1  FROM^  THE  LIB R Any  OF 


HALF  A  CENTURY  WITH  THE  JOURNAL. 


.•l\\i 


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II  i:\KV     K.    1)A\1S, 
At  his   r)KSK  IN  TiiK    loruNAi.  CiX'sriNt;   Roi 


HALF   A    CENTURY  with  the 
PROVIDENCE    JOURNAL 


BEING  A  RECORD  OF  THE  EVENTS 
AND  ASSOCIATES  CONNECTED  WITH 
THE    FAST   FIFTY    YEARS    OF   THE    LIFE    OF 

HENRY     R.     DAVIS 

SECRETARY       OF      THE      COMPANY 


COMPILED      AND      ISSUED      BY 

THE    JOURNAL    COMPANY 


1904 


FOR      PRIVATE      DISTRIBUTION 


COPYlilGIIT    1904 
BY 

The  Journal  Company. 


I'linttil   for  Pkf.ston   1*1;  RouNHS  Co.  by 
K.  L.  Fkk.kman  &  Sons. 


Table  of  Contents. 


Dedication *^ 

Principal  Dates  in  the  Journal's  History xi 

CHAPTER  I. 
Henry  Richard  Davis ^  ^ 

CHAPTER  n. 
Power  of  the  Party  Organ ^3 

CHAPTER  HI. 
The  Independent  Paper 4i 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Editors  and  Other  Writers 55 

CHAPTER  V. 
Contributors  and  Correspondents loi 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Unusual  Traits  and  Activities 127 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Journal's  Carriers ^49 

CHAPTER  Vni. 

Collecting  the  News ^°^ 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Mechanical  Equipment 201 

CHAPTER  X. 

Homes  of  the  Journal 217 

CHAPTER  XL 
Journalism  in  New  England 229 


85D241 


Illustrations. 


„    ^     .  Frontispiece. 

Henry  R.  Davis 

Long-Time  Associates  of  Mr.  Davis  in  the  Counting  Room  of  the  Journal.        8 

i8 

Henry  B.  Anthony 

.  ,  . .      ^o 

George  \V.  Danielson 

--      ^6 
Alfred  M.  Williams 

60 

Tames  B.  Angell 

88 
Former  Writers  and  City  Editors 

104 
Contributors  from  Brown  University 

General  Contributors  to  the  Journal 

i;!o 
Women  Writers  for  the  Journal 

Members  of  the  Famous  Journal  Sunday  School i40 

152 

Former  Journal  Employees 

156 

The  Journal  Carriers 

160 

168 

The  Carriers'  New  Year's  Address  for  1864 ^7 

,  220 

Old  Homes  of  the  Journal 

.  -    224 
The  Journal's  New  Home 


Dedication. 


To  Henry  Richard  Davis  this  vokime  is  affection- 
ately dedicated  in  behalf  of  the  Journal  workers,  past 
and  present.  All  who  have  come  in  contact  with  his 
gentle  personality  and  sterling  character  have  realized 
that  they  were  being  followed  by  him  with  friendly 
interest,  whether  they  remained  with  the  paper  or  not, 
so  that  the  bond  uniting  them  has  been  kept  strong  by 
the  success  of  his  desire  to  keep  in  touch  with  them. 
Fifty  years  ago  he  entered  the  service  of  the  Journal,  and 
since  then  he  has  come  to  be  the  one  person  most  inti- 
mately associated  in  the  minds  of  the  majority  of  the 
Journal's  friends  with  their  recollections  of  the  paper 
while  during  the  half  century  he  has  been  the  connecting 
influence  that  has  tended  to  unite  the  succession  of 
proprietors  and  preserve  the  continuity  of  the  man- 
agement. Modest  under  responsibility,  sweet-tempered 
amid  vexations,  in  his  industry,  fidelity,  and  loyalty  he 
has  been  an  inspiration  to  his  co-workers,  who  wish  to 
testify,  in  these  reminiscences  of  events  with  which  he 
has  been  associated,  to  his  unobtrusive  influence  in  the 
steps  by  which  the  Providence  Journal  and  the  Evening 
Bulletin  have  advanced  in  growth  and  power. 


Principal  Dates  in  the  Journars  History, 


Jan.  3,  1820.  First  issue  of  "Manufacturers'  and  Farmers'  Journal  and 
Providence  and  Pawtucket  Advertiser,"  published  semi- 
weekly  by  John  Miller  and  John  Hutchens.  William  E. 
Richmond,  editor. 

Jan.  I,  1S23.— Mr.  Miller  bought  the  interest  of  Mr.  Hutchens  and  became 
sole  proprietor  of  the  Journal. 

Aug.  5,  1823.— The  Journal  moved  to  the  Union  Building  on  the  West  side 
of  the  bridge. 

Nov.  29,  1824. — The  publication-office  was  again  moved,  this  time  to  the 
Granite  Building,  facing  Market  square. 

Mar.  30,  1827.— The  office  in  the  Granite  Building  was  partly  destroyed  by 
fire. 

Julv     21,   1829. — First  issue  of  the  daily  Journal. 

May  I,  1833.— Mr.  Miller  admitted  George  Paine  to  partnership,  and  the 
paper  moved  to  the  Whipple   Building  on  College  street. 

Feb.  23,  1836.— George  W.  Jackson  bought  the  Journal.  An  Adams  press 
was  provided. 

July  I,  1838. — Mr.  Jackson  sold  the  Journal  to  Joseph  Knowles  and  Wil- 
liam L.  Burroughs. 

Feb.  I,  1839. — Mr.  Burroughs  retired  and  was  succeeded  by  John  W.  Vose; 
thus  the  Journal  publishers  were  Knowles    &  Vose. 

July  I,  1840. — Henry  B.  Anthony  was  admitted  to  the  firm,  which  became 
Knowles,  Vose    &  Anthony. 

Nov.  13,  1844. — The  Journal  moved  to  the  Washington  Building,  Wash- 
ington Row. 

July  II,  1845.— A  silver  .service  was  presented  to  Mr.  Anthony  by  Providence 
citizens  in  appreciation  of  the  course  taken  by  the  paper 
during  the  Dorr  War. 


Xll 


April  2^,   1848. — Mr.  Vose  retired  and  the  firm  became  Knowles   &  Anthony. 

May  I,  1848. — The  words  "and  Pawtuckct  Advertiser"  were  dropped  from 
the  heading  of  the  semi-weekly. 

May,  1854. — Henry  R.  Davis  became  a  Journal  carrier. 

June  30,  1856. — The  Journal  was  first  firinted  by  steam  power  on  a  Hoe 
single-cylinder  press. 

Sept.    10,   i860. — James  B.  Angell  assumed  editorial  supervision  of  the  paper. 

Oct.,  1862. — The  press  capacity  was  doubled. 

Jan.  I,  1863. — George  W.  Danielson  was  admitted  to  partnership;  then  the 
firm  became  Knowles,  Anthony    &  Danielson. 

Jan.     26,   1863. — Evening  Bulletin  started. 

Jan.  3,  1870. — Fiftieth  anniversary  observed  by  publishing  a  history  of  the 
Journal,  prepared  by  Rev.  E.  M.  Stone. 

July  I,  1871. — Office  moved  from  the  Washington  Building  to  the  Barton 
Block,  2  Weybosset  street,  and  a  four-cylinder  ]5ress  in- 
stalled, capable  of  10,000  impressions  an  hour. 

Dec.    21,   1874. — Joseph  Knowles  died. 

Nov.      1,   1875.— Alfred  Williams  joined  the  Journal  rcportorial  staff. 

July,  1875. — A    si.x-cylinder    type-revolving    press    installed,    capable    of 

f)rinting  12,000  impressions  an  hour. 

Feb.,  1881. — Hoe  web  perfecting  press  installed  for  Bulletin,  with  stcreo- 

ty[)ing  apparatus  for  both  Journal  and  Bulletin. 

July  1,  1881. — Form  of  Journal  changed  from  folio  to  quarto,  with  an  in- 
crease in  size  from  four  pages  and  forty  columns  to  eight 
pages  and  sixty-four  columns. 

.\pril,         1882^ — A  second  web  perfecting  press  bought. 

Jan.       I,   1883. — Alfred  M.  Williams  became  associate  editor. 

Mar.   25,   1884. — Mr.  Danielson  died. 

May,  1884. — Incorporated  as  the  Providence  Printing  Company. 

Sept.     2,   1884.- — Mr.  Anthony  died. 

April,  1885. — Act  amended,  changing  name  to  Providence  Journal  Com- 

pany. 

May  27,  1885. — The  Journal  Company  elected  officers  under  its  new  charter, 
choosing  Richard  S.  Hnwland  treasurer  and  manager,  and 
Henry   R.    Davis   sccri't.iry    and    cashier. 

July     19,   1885. — First  Sunday  editit)n  of  the  Journal  issued. 


Xlll 

June  24,  18S6. — Historical  number  issued  on  the  250th  anniversary  of  the 
founding  of  Providence. 

Jan.,  1887. — First  number  of  the  Providence  Journal  Almanac. 

April  18,   1887. — New  Hoe  press  put  in. 

May      3,   1888. — Journal  "read  out  of  the  Republican  party." 

July  II,  1S88. — Purchase  of  the  Fletcher  Building  as  a  new  home  for  the 
paper. 

May  6,  1889. — Moved  to  Fletcher  Building,  where  the  paper  used  the  first 
linotypes  in  New  England. 

Sept.  29,  1890. — Slater  centennial  of  the  introduction  of  cotton  machinery 
observed  by  an  anniversary  number. 

July    23,   1 89 1. — Mr.  Williams  resigned. 

Mar.   19,   1892. — New  press  put  in. 

April     9,   1896. — Mr.  Williams  died. 

Oct.  8,  1897. — Weekly  edition  of  the  Rhode  Island  Country  Journal  dis- 
continued. 

Mar.   31,   1S98. — New  press  put  in. 

Nov.    ID,   1898. — Frederick  Roy  Martin  became  associate  editor. 

April  21,   1902. — Photo-engraving  plant  established. 

Sept.  16,  1902.— Estate  adjoining  Journal  property  on  the  east  procured  as 
an  addition  to  the  site  for  a  new  building. 

April     I,   1903. — Wireless   station   established   at   Point  Judith. 

April  13,   1903. — Foundation  started  for  new  Journal  building. 

May      5,   1903. — Wireless  station  established  on  Block  Island. 

July      9,   1903. — First    number   of   "Block    Island   Wireless"    issued. 


CHAPTER  I. 
HENRY  RICHARD  DAVIS. 

For  fifty  years  he  has  been  identified  with  the  Providence 
Journal's  life,  rendering  efficient  service  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  counting  room,  but  also  finding  oppor- 
tunity for  mental  stimulus  as  well  as  recreation  in  its 
other  departments  and  through  the  companionship  of 
its  editors,  contributors,  and  patrons. 


HENRY  RICHARD  DAVIS. 

Half  a  century  ago,  Henry  R.  Davis,  secretary  of  the 
Journal  corporation  and  manager  of  the  business  office, 
entered  the  employ  of  the  company  as  a  newsboy,  and 
with  scarcely  an  interruption  he  has  been  identified  with 
the  Journal  ever  since.  This  record  is  unusual,  not 
only  because  of  its  length,  but  on  account  of  the  activity 
which  made  his  personality  so  prominent.  Many  people 
have  been  unconsciously  led  to  regard  him  as  the  most 
accessible  representative  of  the  Journal  and  the  Bulletin, 
applying  first  to  him,  whether  their  dealings  were  with  the 
financial,  mechanical,  or  editorial  departments. 

Long  terms  of  service  are  the  rule  rather  than  the  ex- 
ception in  an  office  where  they  are  encouraged  by  incen- 
tives to  stimulate  the  best  efforts  of  each  individual. 
Several  members  of  the  Journal  staff  have  completed 
terms  of  service  varying  from  twenty  to  thirty-five  years; 
but  a  connection  of  fifty  years  with  a  company  must 
necessarily  be  rare  when  one  considers  how  small  its 
staff  was  fifty  years  ago  compared  with  its  force  in  more 
recent  times. 

In  the  accompanying  pages  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  relate  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  Journal  as  Mr. 
Davis  has  seen  them,  and  to  recall  names  of  men  with 
whom  he  has  been  most  associated.  Thus  this  tribute 
is  not  a  systematic  or  consecutive  history  of  the  Journal, 
for  it  deals  more  with  individuals  and  traits  of  character 
than  with  political  or  moral  reforms  inaugurated  and 


4  flFTV    YEARS  WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

supported  by  the  paper.  While  the  paper  was  a  political 
organ,  controlled  for  the  Republican  party  by  Senator 
Anthony,  during  the  administration  of  Mr.  Danielson, 
when  the  rule  of  the  newspaper  manager  in  public  affairs 
was  still  more  absolute  and  after  the  Journal  and  the  Bul- 
letin shook  themselves  free  and  no  longer  represented 
the  opinions  of  a  clique,  Mr.  Davis  performed  the  same 
part  in  their  direction. 

Whatever  hand  took  the  helm  in  the  management  of  the 
paper  it  has  found  immediate  response  in  the  individuality 
and  character  of  Mr.  Davis,  with  who  mconfidential 
relations  could  be  established  without  hesitation.  His 
cheerful  temperament  has  been  conspicuous  since  his 
first  connection  with  the  office.  This  pleasant  dispo- 
sition early  manifested  itself,  and  has  no  doubt  been  re- 
sponsible in  a  great  measure  for  the  even  balance  of  his 
character  and  for  the  sanguine  temperament  which  has 
found  such  diversity  of  enjoyment  in  duties  that  others 
might  have  found  mere  drudgery.  But  his  disposition  is 
not  mere  good  nature  that  would  tolerate  slipshod  methods 
or  indulgence  that  invites  imposition,  for  his  firmness  and 
precision  are  a  constant  rebuke  to  indifferent  or  slovenly 
workers.  When  one  watches  him  move  from  one  subject 
to  another  and  observes  the  celerity  and  accuracy  with 
which  he  deals  with  each  little  detail,  he  can  account  in 
a  measure  for  the  successful  dispatch  of  business  which 
Mr.  Davis  allows  to  be  extended  so  much  beyond  the 
routine  limitations  of  the  ordinary  counting  room. 

It  is  said  that  newspaper  life  is  made  up  each  day  of 
climaxes  which  all  culminate  in  one  supreme  effort  to  com- 
plete the  work  as  the  edition  goes  to  press;  but  each  di- 


HENRY    RICHARD    DAVIS.  5 

verting  influence  is  met  by  Mr.  Davis  with  such  a  calm 
demeanor  and  rapid  power  of  concentration  that  con- 
fusion is  avoided  and  exigencies  which  might  confound 
others  are  quickly  cleared.  Alertness,  serenity  of  temper, 
and  clearness  of  brain  render  accumulated  burdens  less 
formidable  to  Mr.  Davis  than  to  many  executive  officers 
who  pride  themselves  on  method.  To  those  who  know 
the  proverbial  distrust  that  in  many  offices  separates  so 
distinctly  the  editorial  room  from  the  business  office  the 
cordial  relations  existing  between  the  two  in  the  Journal 
are  generally  a  surprise.  This  absence  of  friction  in 
part  results  from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Davis  retains  the 
habits  of  years  when  the  publisher  was  his  own  editor  and 
continues  his  interest  in  news  and  its  collection.  It  is 
not  often  that  a  reporter  consults  with  the  business  office 
to  learn  the  background  essential  to  some  story  or  the  lines 
that  will  lead  to  new  discoveries;  but  some  of  the  best 
stories  in  the  Journal  office  have  been  suggested  or  rounded 
out  by  a  consultation  with  Mr.  Davis's  index  book,  in 
which  he  has  recorded  references  to  the  files  for  over 
forty  years,  making  it  possible  to  turn  at  once  to  the 
accounts  of  most  important  events. 

Mr.  Davis  began  this  system  of  cataloguing,  not  merely 
to  help  the  Journal  staff,  but  also  to  make  available 
information  which  the  editor  is  called  on  almost  daily  to 
supply.  The  newspaper  is  considered  a  centre  of  infor- 
mation, and  people  expect  the  "editor"  to  answer  at 
once  some  obscure  question  about  which  a  dispute  has 
been  raised  or  to  give  the  dates  of  historical  events  which 
he  is  supposed  to  have  at  his  tongue's  end.  Since  it  is 
impossible  for  the  most  retentive  memory  to  treasure  all 


6  FIFTY   YEARS    WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

such  facts,  the  reference  book  was  started  and  has  grown 
to  such  importance  that  it  is  about  to  be  extended 
and  made  more  comprehensive.  In  spite  of  the  repeated 
demands  on  his  time  made  by  seekers  after  information 
contained  in  the  index,  Mr.  Davis  finds  opportunity  to 
give  personal  attention  to  all  those  who  come  on  an  honest 
errand  and  at  the  same  time  keep  up  the  routine  work 
of  the  office  which  he  directs. 

In  the  many  philanthropic  enterprises  which  the  Journal 
has  conducted  Mr.  Davis  has  usually  been  the  active  agent 
or  treasurer,  so  that  there  has  been  hardly  a  public  move- 
ment for  relief  since  he  presided  in  the  counting  room 
with  which  he  has  not  been  identified.  Many  will  intrust 
money  unhesitatingly  to  a  newspaper  appealing  for  it ;  but 
in  the  case  of  the  Journal  such  subscriptions  have  been 
especially  successful  because  of  confidence  in  the  mian  who 
has  handled  so  many  such  funds.  Thus  many  people 
who  wish  to  give  a  little  to  the  poor  at  Thanksgiving  or 
Christmas  quietly  leave  the  money  in  the  office,  knowing 
that  it  will  be  wisely  distributed. 

In  the  three  relations,  therefore,  of  fidelity  to  his  em- 
ployers, interest  in  his  associates,  and  regard  for  the  public 
he  has  exhibited  a  loyalty  to  the  Journal  and  properly 
served  the  interests  of  all  without  sacrificing  his  concern 
for  the  welfare  of  the  paper.  He  has  been  able  to  adjust 
himself  quickly  to  new  methods  and  to  carry  them  out 
with  an  enthusiasm  that  made  them  seem  a  part  of  his 
own  plans.  This  avoidance  of  friction  when  accepting 
new  conditions  has  made  his  work  especially  valuable, 
for  he  never  allowed  long  custom  to  drag  his  ofiice  into  a 
rut  which  could  not  be  left  without  a  jolt. 


HENRY    RICHARD    DAVIS.  7 

Showing  cheerful  co-operation  in  undertaking  the  plans 
of  the  managers  he  has  continued   to  be   the   person- 
ality which  preserved  the  good  will  of  the  contributors. 
Whatever  their  relations  with  the  editors  upstairs,  Mr. 
Davis  was  always  interested   in  what  they  wrote  and 
greeted  them  personally  as  they  visited  the  ofhce  to  leave 
their  manuscripts  or  came  to  receive  their  compensation 
for  articles  that  had  been  published.     The  constituency 
of  the  Journal  has  been  peculiar  in  the  number  of  persons 
who  call  personally  at  the  office  to  pay  their  annual 
subscriptions.     If    one    of    these    long-time    subscribers 
should  fail  to  meet  Mr.  Davis  and  to  receive  a  receipt 
from  him  he  would  be  sure  to  go  away  with  the  feeling 
that  an  important  feature  of  his  periodical  visit  was  lack- 
ing.    In  the  purchase  of  supplies  it  is  a  part  of  his  work 
to  meet  dealers,  who  have  generally  found  that  his  knowl- 
edge  concerning   prices   of   articles   in    the   mechanical 
equipment  of  a  newspaper  was  accurate  and  his  judgment 
excellent  concerning  their  availability. 

It  was  the  spirit  of  self-reliance  that  influenced  Mr. 
Davis  to  seek  employment  as  carrier  for  the  Journal  in 
1854,  for  he  was  largely  dependent  on  his  own  resources. 
His  father,  Joseph  Snow  Davis,  died  two  months  after 
the  birth  of  Henry  Richard,  March  21,  1839.  Although 
he  had  an  opportunity  to  attend  the  public  schools,  he  did 
not  take  more  than  two  years  of  the  high  school  course. 
Since  that  time  his  education  has  been  obtained  in  the 
Journal  office,  where  he  has  taken  advantage  of  its  literary 
life  and  of  the  contact  with  its  countless  contributors  to 
acquire  mental  discipline  and  the  broadening  of  his  general 
information.     In    1852   he   began   work   for  newsdealer 


8  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

O' Gorman  and  carried  papers  to  subscribers  of  the  New 
York  Times  and  Boston  Journal.  He  secured  a  regular 
route  as  carrier  on  the  Journal  in  May,  1854,  and  in  INIarch, 
1856,  he  became  a  telegraph  messenger  boy  in  the  Morse 
Company's  office  on  Canal  street,  but  his  connection  with 
the  paper  was  not  entirely  interrupted.  In  September, 
1856,  Mr.  Anthony,  recognizing  his  punctuality  and  at- 
tention to  business,  invited  him  to  take  a  place  in  the 
Journal  counting  room. 

One  of  the  duties  in  this  position  was  the  collection  of 
bills,  and  an  incident  recently  related  by  a  lawyer  illustrates 
the  courteous  manner  which  has  contributed  so  much  to 
his  success.  The  lawyer  had  been  much  vexed  by  in- 
terruptions while  he  was  trying  to  clear  up  his  desk  in 
time  to  keep  an  appointment.  Finally  he  was  able  to 
break  away  from  the  office  a  little  late  and  was  hurrying 
out,  when  he  met  young  Davis  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs. 
The  lawyer  knew  that  it  was  probably  a  bill  the  boy  had 
brought,  and  started  to  brush  him  aside  with  the  remark 
that  he  could  not  make  the  change  just  then.  ''All 
right,"  said  young  Davis,  pleasantly,  "I  can  just  as  well 
call  again,"  The  attorney  was  so  impressed  by  his  polite- 
ness that  he  turned  and,  calling  him  back,  said:  "No,  you 
won't  call  again.  Go  right  up  stairs  with  me  now  and  I 
will  find  you  the  money." 

During  the  wave  of  patriotic  feeling  that  followed  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Davis  joined  the  Burnside 
Zouaves,  with  whom  he  drilled,  expecting  to  enlist  in  a 
Rhode  Island  regiment;  but  he  was  dissuaded  from  this 
plan  by  Mr.  Anthony,  who  assured  him  of  the  permanency 
of  his  position  for  which  he  seemed  so  well  fitted. 


LONG-TIME    ASSOCIATES    OF    MR.    DAVIS    IN    THE    COUNTING    ROOM 

OF    THE    JOURNAL. 

James  B.  Gay, 


William  M.  Cotton, 
Charles  H.  Mathewson, 


TlMOTHV    F.    DwVEK, 

Charles  M,  Staniels. 


HENRY    RICHARD    DAVIS.  9 

Mr.  Davis's  early  work  was  so  satisfactory  that  he  soon 
found  himself  promoted  to  take  the  place  of  Charles  J. 
Wheeler  at  the  head  of  the  counting-room  force.  J. 
Bowers  Slade  was  soon  installed  as  assistant  to  Mr. 
Davis,  while  Louis  W.  Clarke  was  put  in  charge  of  the 
carriers.  William  M.  Cotton,  who  is  still  employed  in 
the  counting  room,  took  his  place  in  1868,  before  the 
removal  from  the  Washington  Row  building,  but  the  others 
who  still  remain  with  the  Journal's  clerical  staff  joined 
the  force  when  the  Barton  block  was  the  publication 
office, — Timothy  F.  Dwyer,  who  now  has  charge  of  the 
advertising,  joining  in  1872,  Charles  H.  Mathewson  in 
the  fall  of  1879,  and  Charles  M.  Staniels  in  1884. 

With  the  increase  in  the  volume  of  business  it  was  never 
allowed  to  grow  away  from  Mr.  Davis,  and  he  gradually 
became  immersed  in  it  so  that  his  special  studies,  his 
diversions,  and  the  time  that  many  would  give  to  recreation 
were  devoted  to  the  life  of  the  newspaper  with  its  manifold 
interests.  The  individual  friendships  with  members  of 
the  Journal  family,  the  historical  and  scientific  discus- 
sions it  conducted,  and  the  wealth  of  its  literary  produc- 
tions afforded  variety  enough  for  the  most  active  mind, 
capable  of  appreciating  and  making  the  most  of  each 
element.  Thus  he  lives  the  life  outside  his  domestic 
circle  in  the  Journal  and  enjoys  its  possibilities  in  full 
measure.  His  admission  in  May,  1887,  to  Orpheus  Lodge, 
No.  36,  of  Masons,  is  a  possible  exception.  This  lodge 
was  formed  by  the  members  of  the  old  Orpheus  club  of 
singers,  and  Mr.  Davis  is  still  an  active  member  of  the 
organization. 

Mr.  Davis  has  always  taken  an  interest  in  historical 


lO  FIFTY   YEARS    WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

matters,  but  it  is  significant  that  his  principal  activity 
therein  has  been  in  connection  with  some  Journal  contrib- 
utor. Thus  he  accompanied  Rev.  Edwin  M.  Stone  in 
studies  on  the  old  camp  of  the  French  allies  whose  tent 
marks  were  visible  a  few  years  ago  on  the  high  ground 
between  the  Pawtuckct  road  and  Swan  Point  Cemetery. 
Rev.  Frederic  Denison,  also  a  contributor  to  the  paper, 
was  interested  in  providing  a  memorial  to  the  French  who 
died  in  this  State  during  the  Revolution,  and  a  few  weeks 
after  the  question  had  been  discussed  by  them  a  subscrip- 
tion was  started  in  the  Journal  columns.  INIr.  Davis  was 
naturally  the  treasurer,  and  as  a  result  of  his  work  a  mon- 
ument was  built  in  the  North  Burial  Ground ;  and  when 
the  cornerstone  was  laid,  in  the  fall  of  1882,  the  French 
delegation  attending  the  Yorktown  centennial  came  up 
and  participated  in  the  exercises,  decorating  the  monu- 
ment with  flowers. 

Mr.  Davis  was  married  June  14,  1865,  to  IMary  E. 
Wilson  of  this  city,  who  died  in  1882.  They  had  three 
children,  Mary  E.,  who  lives  at  home;  Henry  F.,  who  is 
married  and  is  employed  in  the  Journal  ofiice ;  and  Emma 
Louise,  wife  of  Walter  Hayward  of  the  Journal  staflf. 
Mr.  Davis  moved  from  his  Chestnut  .street  home  to  98 
Congdon  street  in  1895,  and  has  lived  there  since. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  record  of  events  in  ISIr.  Davis's  life 
which  have  not  such  direct  connection  with  the  Journal 
as  those  recorded  in  the  following  pages.  The  remaining 
events  are  found  in  the  history  of  the  Journal  for  fifty 
years,  for  he  has  been  a  participant  in  them  all.  Little 
attention  is  given  in  this  volume  to  the  ]X)litical  history  of 
the  Journal,  for  in  this  Mr.  Davis  has  not  been  active. 


HENRY   RICHARD    DAVIS.  II 

But  there  is  scarcely  another  elenient  in  the  Journal  office 
with  which  he  is  not  identified.  He  selected  the  carriers 
and  has  followed  them  with  friendly  interest.  He  was 
not  satisfied  to  sign  the  remittances  to  contributors,  for 
he  met  them  personally  and  appreciated  their  work.  He 
has  been  interested  in  the  Journal's  mechanical  advance- 
ment, and  he  has  participated  in  its  preparation  of  news 
for  publication.  His  cheerful  greeting  has  met  the  em- 
ployees on  pay  day,  and  to  him  the  subscriber  has  looked 
for  the  proper  delivery  of  the  paper.  Thus  this  little  book 
may  be  considered  a  Davis  biography,  as  the  record  of 
every  event  has  been  associated  with  him  personally. 


CHAPTER  II. 
POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN. 

The  Journal's  growth  in  Influence  during  the  administra- 
tion of  Senator  Anthony  and  George  W.  Danielson.- — 
Mr.  Anthony's  pubhc  service. — Mr.  Danielson's  Policy 
of  Expansion. — Death  of  the  Two  Leaders. — The  Jour- 
nal emerges  from  party  allegiance. — Pathetic  Incident 
connected  with  the  death  of  Mr.  Williams. 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN. 

The  importance  of  mechanical  improvements  in  the 
pubHcation  of  a  modern  newspaper  and  the  disappearance 
of  the  political  organ  have  created  the  impression  that  the 
daily  is  no  longer  a  personality,  but  a  costly  machine 
which  digests  the  world's  news  and  spreads  it  before  the 
public  each  day,  with  little  idea  of  influencing  opinion. 
Moreover,  a  too  generally  accepted  idea  is  that  the  news- 
paper has  no  longer  a  mission  for  party  or  individual,  but 
merely  reflects  the  life  of  the  period.  This  theory  would 
not  explain  the  affection  w^ith  which  readers  cling  to  one 
paper,  when  they  have  made  its  acquaintance,  and  the 
welcome  they  afterward  give  it  as  to  an  old  friend  and 
companion.  It  is  a  question,  also,  whether  the  editorial 
influence  of  journalism  has  actually  declined,  for  the  news 
department  has  been  so  developed  that  the  proportion  be- 
tween the  two  has  greatly  changed.  The  reporter  does 
his  share  to-day  in  moulding  opinion,  and  the  views  of  the 
editor  have  not  lost  their  influence.  Brains  rather  than 
financial  resources  are  still  the  chief  elements  of  a  news- 
paper's success,  in  spite  of  the  expensiveness  of  its  pub- 
lication compared  with  what  it  was  when  presses  were 
primitive  and  inexpensive;  for  nearly  all  the  important 
journals  in  America  are  inspired  by  some  personality, 
while  attempts  to  create  newspapers  on  the  idea  that  they 
need  only  money  for  the  purchase  of  talent  have  repeatedly 
failed. 


1 6  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

A  correspondent  of  national  reputation  recently  told 
the  public,  on  the  anniversary  of  a  daily  newspaper,  that 
he  had  seen  the  great  editors  pass  away,  and  that  the 
modern  writer  was  simply  the  hired  man  of  a  syndicate 
rich  enough  to  provide  presses,  linotype  machines,  art 
departments,  and  a  material  home  for  the  journal.  While 
it  is  true  that  the  invention  of  a  machine  that  has  sup- 
planted hand  work  in  composition  and  the  development 
of  fast  presses  to  make  possible  the  printing  and  distri- 
bution of  news  rapidly  enough  to  keep  up  with  modern 
requirements  have  made  the  material  advance  more  con- 
spicuous than  it  was  when  the  literary  man  could  es- 
tablish an  ofhce  with  $5,000,  this  material  perfection  of 
newspaper  plants  has  by  no  means  obliterated  the  in- 
fluence and  place  of  the  newspaper  man. 

No  better  illustration  of  this  idea  can  be  found  in 
America  than  in  the  history  of  the  Providence  Journal, 
whose  business  and  editorial  departments  have  always 
continued  to  be  controlled  by  the  same  persons  and  whose 
resources  have  been  created  by  its  publication  and  not 
contributed  from  outside  income.  The  development  of 
the  telegraph,  the  discovery  of  the  telephone,  and  the  per- 
fection of  a  mechanical  substitute  for  typesetting  have  all 
come  within  fifty  years,  but  they  have  not  forced  the 
Journal  editor  to  a  position  of  inferiority  to  the  business 
manager;  for  in  that  entire  period  there  has  been  a 
publisher  at  the  head  who  was  the  active  director  of  the 
news  department  and  was  responsible  for  the  opinions 
as  well  as  the  financial  management.  In  the  beginning 
of  that  period  came  Senator  Anthony,  who  never  re- 
linquished entirely  his  editorial  care  or  responsibility  so 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  1 7 

long  as  he  was  owner;  and  when  he  laid  some  of  the  bur- 
den on  George  W.  Danielson  the  healthy  growth  of  the 
Journal  only  kept  pace  with  the  editorial  broadening  and 
strengthening  which  that  leader  could  bring.  On  the 
death  of  these  two  men,  who  combined  the  work  of 
editorial  supervision  with  the  financial  problems  involved, 
the  Journal  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  present  con- 
trolling owner,  who  is  the  editor  as  well  as  the  manager  of 
the  business. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  19th  century  the  editor  of  a 
paper  was  the  one  person  responsible  for  its  literary  and 
mechanical  work.     He  gathered  what  little  local  news 
was    considered    worthy    of    record,    wrote    comments, 
clipped  the  miscellany  that  occupied  so  much  space  in 
the  columns,  and  sometimes  set  the  type.     When  the  date 
of  publication  arrived  he  prepared  the  white  paper  sheets 
to  receive  impressions  from  the  type,  fed  them   to  the 
press,  and  often  distributed   the  edition  to    subscribers. 
Events  seemed  to  gain  value  by  the  distance  that  removed 
them  from  the  local  audience;  for  the  sewing  circle  and 
the  corner  grocery  were  abundantly  able  to  disseminate 
local  matter  and  discuss  it,  while  the  news  from  Europe 
had  to  encounter  the  vicissitudes  of  ocean  travel  and 
seemed  to  increase  in  importance  by  this  inaccessibility. 
Another  class  of  news  rated  as  important  was  the  official 
proceedings   of  Congress,  a   body  which  had  then  only 
recently  expressed  the  will  of  the  states  in  the  concerted 
revolt  from  the  mother  country;  so  when  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  fresh  in  mind  Congressional  debates 
were  rarely  pruned  or  sacrificed  to  make  room  for  livelier 
matters.     As  the  magazines  had  not  become  so  common 

2 


1 8  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

then  and  books  were  rare  and  expensive,  it  was  one  of  the 
duties  of  the  newspaper  to  print  choice  miscellany  of 
all  sorts.  In  the  preparation  of  his  material  the  "editor" 
was  then  known  as  the  man  who  "wrote  the  paper"  and 
his  functions  also  included  those  of  printer,  who  not  only 
struck  off  the  edition  but  also  conducted  a  job  office  for 
preparing  leaflets  and  printing  pamphlets. 

The  differentiation  of  the  early  newspaper  editorship 
had  begun  with  the  new  century,  and  so  the  job  office  was 
generally  separated  from  the  editorial  rooms,  although 
both  were  conducted  by  the  same  person  and  the  news- 
paper was  made  the  advertising  medium  to  solicit  printing 
jobs.  Departments  were  springing  up,  so  that  one  person 
could  occupy  his  whole  time  setting  the  type  and  another 
might  attend  to  the  make-up  of  the  forms  and  the  feeding 
of  the  press.  This  specialization  had  been  carried  a  step 
farther  when  Mr.  Davis  first  made  the  acquaintance  of 
the  Journal  fifty  years  ago.  The  editor  no  longer  had  to 
put  the  forms  on  the  press,  and  he  had  separated  the  busi- 
ness department,  opening  a  counting  room  for  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  advertising  and  to  keep  the  record  of  sub- 
scriptions. There  had  been  a  still  further  division  in  the 
Journal  office,  for  the  job  printing  office  was  conducted 
separately,  although  the  Journal  proprietors  still  kept  it 
with  the  assistance  of  other  partners.  The  firm  which 
published  the  Journal  in  1854  was  Knowles  &  Anthony, 
and  Mr.  Knowles,  who  was  an  expert  printer  with  training 
in  all  branches  of  that  trade,  took  particular  charge 
of  the  typographical  department.  Henry  B.  Anthony  was 
a  literary  man,  and  he  still  personified  the  "editor"  in  that 
Ke  prepared  nearly  all  the  matter  for  publication.     Charles 


HENRY    B.   ANTHONY 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  IQ 

J.  Wheeler  was  the  sole  representative  in  the  counting 
room,  and  had  long  performed  the  multifarious  duties 
that  have  since  increased  in  volume  so  as  to  require  a 
large  force.  The  home  of  the  paper  was  in  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  and  imposing,  as  well  as  central,  of  Prov- 
idence buildings,  which  has  not  yet  been  obscured  by  the 
modern  sky-seeking  structures,  for  Washington  Row 
has  not  been  relegated  to  an  inconspicuous  part  in  carry- 
ing the  city's  traffic. 

It  was  here  that  the  energetic  young  man  who  had  won 
public  confidence  by  his  fairness  and  conciliatory  conduct 
during  the  controversies  that  had  nearly  led  to  bloodshed 
now  gathered  the  choice  spirits  of  the  day  in  business, 
politics,  and  society;  for  here,  they  had  learned,  was  the 
opportunity  for  exerting  an  influence  in  the  policies  con- 
trolling the  State.  Not  only  was  the  editor  an  individual 
of  flesh  and  blood,  but  his  seat  of  power  was  a  place  which 
attracted  the  leaders  in  thought  whose  ideas  seemed  to  be 
amalgamated,  for  each  visitor  at  the  "Round  Table" 
might  see  enough  of  his  own  ideas  put  into  practice  to 
forget  the  ones  that  had  been  discarded  because  the 
interchange  had  offered  better  ones.  There  were  no  Sun- 
day papers  then,  and  the  suspension  of  the  edition  one  day 
in  seven  gave  opportunity  for  gatherings  free  from  inter- 
ruption. So  Sunday  came  to  be  the  day  for  the  assem- 
blies in  the  sanctum,  and  these  soon  became  known  as  the 
Journal  ''Sunday  school."  The  modern  political  "boss" 
had  not  been  developed  and  the  leadership  in  politics  was 
scarcely  intrusted  to  one  man;  hence  the  arrangements 
made  in  the  Anthony  editorial  room  were  more  the  com- 
bined judgment  of  the  men  who  gathered  there.     The  in- 


20  FIFTY   YEARS  WITH  THE  JOURNAL. 

fluence  of  the  visitors  to  the  office  may  have  imperceptibly 
decreased  and  the  experience  of  the  host  increased  until  he 
became  better  recognized  as  a  leader,  but  the  representa- 
tive character  of  the  gatherings  was  not  lost  in  ]Mr. 
Anthony's  time.  After  Mr.  Anthony  had  been  in  the 
Senate  and  had  come  in  contact  with  national  leaders  in 
shaping  legislation  in  such  grave  matters  as  the  conduct  of 
the  Civil  War  he  did  not  lose  touch  with  the  men  who  were 
wholly  concerned  with  local  matters ;  for  there  were  always 
home  questions  that  came  up  for  settlement,  and  small 
problems  must  have  seemed  easier  after  Washington 
affairs  had  demanded   Mr.   Anthony's  attention. 

The  Journal  was  the  organ  of  the  Republican  party,  and 
as  the  Republicans  were  dominant  the  two  became  as- 
sociated in  the  public  mind ;  so  the  newspaper  was  known 
as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  power  that  was  shaping  the  des- 
tiny of  the  State  and  that  had  a  large  share  in  decision  on 
national  questions.  The  two  elements  that  gave  the 
Journal  "Sunday  school"  such  power  were  the  mysterious 
omnipotence  generally  ascribed  to  the  "editor"  and  the 
actual  personality  of  Mr.  Anthony,  who  had  the  ability 
to  attract  men  and  to  use  them  when  they  did  not  realize 
that  they  were  contributing  so  much  and  hence  made  no 
protest.  Perhaps  it  was  the  ability  to  make  concessions 
on  unessentials  that  made  his  success  as  a  leader  so  con- 
spicuous, and  for  a  long  time  there  was  no  resentment  felt 
because  of  a  domination  which  was  so  gentle  and  appar- 
ently unselfish. 

From  a  newspaper  standpoint  these  meetings  were 
especially  valuable  to  the  editor  in  the  days  when  he  had  no 
staff  of  reporters  and  was  dependent  on  voluntary  sug- 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  21 

gestions  and  reports  of  current  events.  Sometimes  the 
editor  followed  up  the  hint  personally,  and  he  often  paid 
an  official  for  writing  the  account  of  an  event.  If  a 
criminal  case  had  to  be  reported  the  policeman  was 
generally  called  on,  while  Brown  students  were  always 
available  for  this  sort  of  work.  If  an  obituary  was  needed 
there  were  a  score  of  old  residents  whose  minds  were 
stored  with  facts  ready  for  just  such  an  emergency,  and 
they  gladly  responded  to  a  call  for  facts.  If  graver  ques- 
tions arose  that  required  discussion,  for  which  the  editor 
did  not  feel  competent,  there  were  always  members  of  the 
Brown  University  faculty  who  were  glad  to  supply  their 
information  and  to  earn  the  compensation  which  made  a 
welcome  addition  to  their  salaries  for  teaching. 

One  of  these  was  Prof.  James  B.  Angell,  whose  facile 
pen  responded  to  the  requirements  of  a  mind  treasuring 
information  and  carefully  trained.  Readiness  to  write 
an  editorial  article  did  not  mean  commonplace  or  super- 
ficial work  with  him,  and  there  was  a  hopeful  quality 
of  optimism  that  seemed  to  relieve  his  work  of  all  sug- 
gestion of  forced  effort  in  production.  Physically  vigorous, 
he  had  a  virile  intellect  that  appeared  to  adjust  itself  so 
readily  to  the  subject  in  hand,  and  to  turn  to  another  when 
it  was  finished,  that  he  hardly  received  credit  for  the  three 
years  of  toil  when  he  conducted  his  college  classes  in 
addition  to  the  work  of  filling  the  editorial  page.  This 
responsibility  was  not  lessened  when  he  gave  up  his  college 
work  to  devote  his  entire  time  to  the  management  of  the 
newspaper,  for  the  war  brought  with  it  perplexing  prob- 
lems in  which  local  interests  and  Rhode  Island's  part  in 
the  struggle  were  involved.     The  record  of  those  stren- 


22  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

uous  days  in  the  Journal  office  is  modestly  told  by  Mr. 
Angell  himself  in  another  chapter.  ISIuch  of  the  infor- 
mation and  experience  that  have  since  proved  valuable  to 
him  in  diplomatic  positions  and  in  his  administrative  work 
as  President  of  the  University  of  Michigan  was  no  doubt 
acquired  during  those  days  of  editorial  responsibility,  when 
he  had  to  discuss  such  a  wide  range  of  subjects.  The 
influence  he  wielded  may  have  passed  with  the  period  in 
which  it  served  its  purpose,  but  the  personality  of  Mr. 
Angell  impressed  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him,  so 
that  even  the  newsboys  of  i860  still  remember  his  cheerful 
smile  and  the  kindly  word  in  passing  that  fell  so  naturally 
and  readily  from  his  lips. 

Mr.  Anthony  was  a  Brown  graduate  in  the  class  of 
1833,  who  had  literary  taste  which  turned  him  from  the 
manufacturing  industries  in  which  his  family  were  en- 
gaged, so  that  he  was  ready  to  accept  the  offer  which  came 
from  his  friend,  Mr.  G.  W.  Jackson,  to  take  the  editorial 
place  in  which  he  quickly  intrenched  himself.  He  was 
only  twenty-five  years  old  when  the  management  of  the 
paper  was  put  on  his  shoulders  in  1838.  Almost  im- 
mediately after  his  taking  the  position  came  the  culmination 
of  the  strife  over  the  constitutional  limitations  to  the  suf- 
frage of  the  State,  and  this  included  questions  of  the 
greatest  moment  which  interested  the  nation  and  in- 
volved the  future  of  Rhode  Island.  The  test  was  a 
severe  one,  but  Mr.  Anthony  rose  to  the  issue  with  sur- 
prising skill  and  discretion  which  assured  his  reputation. 
The  first  contention  which  he  maintained  with  positive- 
ness  was  that  law  and  order  must  be  preserved,  and  while 
he  did  not  yield  to  the  radical  views  of  the  extremists 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  23 

whose  action  made  the  reform  possible,  his  associations 
with  the  conservatives  never  compelled  him  to  take  a 
reactionary  course. 

The  prestige  gained  by  his  course  in  the  Dorr  War  no 
doubt  contributed  to  the  movement  that  resulted  in  his 
election  as  Governor,  although  he  had  never  before  served 
the  State  in  an  official  capacity.  He  was  thirty-four 
years  old  when  he  entered  the  office  of  Governor,  and  here 
he  extended  the  political  acquaintance  he  had  made  and 
included  among  his  friends  many  who  had  been  opposed 
to  him  politically.  When  urged  to  take  a  renomination 
he  declined,  for  he  wished  then  to  give  the  paper  his 
undivided  attention,  as  he  often  remarked  that  he  had 
rather  be  editor  of  the  Journal  than  hold  any  other 
position  in  the  world. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Anthony  suffered  a  bereavement 
in  the  death  of  his  wife,  whose  place  in  the  home  was 
never  afterward  filled,  so  that  his  hospitality  was  that  of  a 
single  and  childless  man.  He  had  been  married  to  Miss 
Sarah  A.  Rhodes  of  Pawtuxet  in  1837,  and  had  lived  in 
that  village  much  of  the  time  until  her  death  in  1854.  A 
trip  to  Europe  was  planned  as  a  relief  when  the  pressure 
of  duties  seemed  heavy  with  the  added  weight  of  personal 
grief,  and  in  1855  he  traveled  over  the  continent,  writing 
breezy  letters  to  the  paper  from  France,  Italy,  and  Ger- 
many. His  friends  at  home  were  assured  that  he  had  not 
forgotten  Rhode  Island's  attractive  features  by  associ- 
ation with  historic  scenes  abroad,  for  he  was  continually 
comparing  a  famous  building  with  a  Providence  block,  a 
river  with  the  stream  he  crossed  on  the  way  from  Paw- 
tuxet, or  a  waterfall  with  one  he  passed  on  his  daily  trip 


24  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

to  this  city.  On  his  return  he  found  that  the  manufact- 
uring business  conducted  at  Coventry  by  his  family  was 
financially  embarrassed;  so  he  unhesitatingly  assumed 
obligations  not  binding  on  him — an  act  that  greatly  in- 
creased his  popularity. 

It  was  during  his  absence  in  Europe  that  James  S. 
Ham,  who  had  been  one  of  the  frequent  contributors  to 
the  paper,  was  asked  to  take  the  editorial  management  for 
a  year,  a  position  which  he  was  glad  to  relinquish  at  the 
end  of  that  time,  for  he  shrank  from  the  obligations  that 
so  often  fall  to  the  lot  of  an  editor,  compelling  him  to 
investigate  hurriedly  a  matter  which  he  knows  nothing 
about  and  comment  on  it  hastily.  Mr.  Ham  was  older 
than  Mr.  Anthony,  for  he  was  born  March  8,  1809,  but 
in  his  editorial  work  he  had  avoided  responsibility  and 
had  consequently  allowed  opportunities  to  pass  for  which 
his  friends  thought  him  to  be  well  fitted.  When  Mr. 
Knowles  had  owned  the  Microcosm  Mr.  Ham  had  con- 
ducted it  for  a  year,  and  he  took  charge  of  the  Journal  a 
second  time  before  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Angell  in  i860. 
This  sense  of  responsibility  was  evident  afterward  in 
the  management  of  one  of  the  many  estates  intrusted  to 
him,  for  he  insisted  on  taking  the  blame  for  loss  from  a 
robbery,  although  the  beneficiaries  entirely  exonerated 
him. 

Although  Mr.  Anthony  returned  from  his  trip  with  new 
vigor  and  the  expectation  that  he  might  now  continue  his 
work  without  interruption,  he  had  hardly  settled  down 
in  the  harness  before  political  conditions  so  adjusted 
themselves  that  he  felt  compelled  to  accept  the  candidacy 
for  the  United  States  Senate.     The  election  took  place 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  25 

May  28,  1858,  and  the  following  year  he  took  his  seat  in 
the  chamber  where  already  the  threats  of  secession  leaders 
were  heard.  But  the  man  who  had  shown  his  readiness  to 
meet  the  crisis  when  he  took  the  editorship  of  the  Journal 
at  twenty-five  and  had  to  help  stem  the  tide  that  threatened 
revolution  did  not  quail  before  problems  that  threatened 
disruption  to  the  nation.  Conspicuous  figures  loomed 
up  in  this  branch  of  Congress  like  giants  in  the  esti- 
mation of  a  people  harassed  by  rumors  of  secession, 
who  watched  with  dismay  the  capitulation  of  those  they 
had  trusted.  But  Mr.  Anthony  soon  became  prominent 
in  the  deliberations  of  the  Senate  and  an  ardent  supporter 
of  the  administration  in  its  efforts  to  preserve  the  Union. 
His  Quaker  ancestry  with  its  peace-teachings  did  not  warp 
his  judgment  when  it  came  to  active  conduct  of  the  great 
war,  and  he  enthusiastically  led  in  every  movement  that 
Rhode  Island  inaugurated  for  its  prosecution. 

The  interest  that  Rhode  Island  had  taken  in  building 
up  the  navy  of  revolutionary  times  and  the  temporary 
transfer  of  the  Annapolis  school  to  Newport  made  the 
selection  of  Mr.  Anthony  as  a  member  of  the  committee 
on  naval  affairs  a  natural  one,  and  he  held  the  position  for 
twenty  years.  His  reputation  as  a  publisher  led  to  his 
selection  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  printing,  a 
position  he  used  at  once  for  introducing  what  he  con- 
sidered a  great  reform  in  the  establishment  of  a  govern- 
ment printing  office,  which  abolished  the  old  system  of 
work  on  contract  by  private  concerns.  He  not  only 
desired  to  end  abuses  which  had  grown  up  in  the  letting 
of  these  contracts,  but  he  also  believed  that  the  govern- 
ment ought  to  do  the  best  work  obtainable  anywhere. 


26  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

In  March,  1869,  he  was  elected  President  pro  tern  of  the 
Senate,  an  office  to  which  he  was  again  called  in  1871. 
The  presidency  was  again  offered  to  him  in  1884,  but  he 
felt  obliged  to  decline  it  on  account  of  the  ill-health 
that  threatened  his  life. 

Loyalty  to  his  constituents  and  pride  in  his  native  State 
actuated  his  work  in  Congress,  for  he  believed  that  the 
standard  by  which  Rhode  Island  should  be  measured 
was  "the  value  of  its  heads,  rather  than  the  number  of  its 
feet."  The  assertion  that  Rhode  Island  first  realized 
in  a  civil  government  the  idea  of  religious  liberty  was  set 
forth  by  him  in  a  speech  made  in  1861.  Repeatedly  the 
charge  was  flung  in  his  face  that  Rhode  Island  was  re- 
stricting its  own  suffrage  and  at  the  same  time  demanding 
that  the  negro  should  have  the  privilege  of  voting,  but 
he  was  ready  with  a  reply  in  which  he  urged  that  a  re- 
publican government  might  be  representative  and  still 
not  strictly  democratic.  Perhaps  the  most  elaborate 
argument  he  made  on  this  question  was  in  1881,  when  he 
uttered  the  memorable  phrase  that  these  strangers  who 
were  demanding  greater  suffrage  liberty  were  men  who 
''came  among  us  uninvited  and  upon  whose  departure 
there  is  no  restraint."  Though  he  was  naturally  credited 
with  originating  this  expression,  he  was  careful  to  give 
the  credit  for  it  to  Benjamin  Hazard,  from  whose  lips 
he  had  taken  it  at  one  of  the  sessions  of  the  Journal 
''Sunday  school." 

But  it  was  in  his  relations  with  Senator  Sprague,  who 
was  his  colleague  from  1863  to  1875,  that  Mr.  Anthony's 
loyalty  to  the  State  was  most  conspicuous,  for  senatorial 
courtesy  was  often  strained  by  the  attacks  of  Mr.  Sprague, 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  27 

which  even  touched  upon  the  conduct  of  the  Journal. 
In  the  spring  of  1869,  when  discussion  of  the  national 
currency  was  precipitated  by  the  introduction  of  a  bill 
"to  strengthen  public  credit  and  relating  to  contracts 
for  the  payment  of  coin,"  Mr.  Sprague  surprised  his 
constituents  and  the  other  members  of  the  Senate  by 
making  radical  propositions  concerning  government  finan- 
ciering. Rates  of  interest  were  then  high,  and  money  was 
scarce  at  any  price;  so  Mr.  Sprague  advocated  a  national 
bureau  to  loan  money  on  credit,  to  enable  the  small  man- 
ufacturer to  compete  with  his  wealthy  rival.  While 
these  addresses  made  a  sensation  in  the  country,  they  were 
pleasing  to  many  victims  of  prevailing  conditions,  who 
hoped  to  find  some  relief.  The  Journal  treated  Mr. 
Sprague's  suggestions  as  if  they  were  not  to  be  taken 
seriously,  for  it  remarked:  "The  Senator's  intense  ap- 
plication to  his  official  duties  and  to  his  extensive  private 
interests,  we  fear,  cause  him  to  take  too  gloomy  a  view  of 
the  situation."  This  paragraph  was  construed  by  Mr. 
Sprague  as  an  attempt  to  injure  his  credit  and  he  was  sure 
that  it  had  been  inspired  by  the  firm  of  Brown  &  Ives, 
the  other  large  manufacturing  house  in  the  State,  so  as  to 
accomplish  his  ruin.  Mr.  Sprague  became  still  more 
radical  after  this  and  represented  the  country  on  the  brink 
of  ruin  financially,  while  he  believed  that  the  standards 
of  morality  had  been  reduced  to  a  low  level.  Conditions 
in  Rhode  Island  were  attacked.  Gen.  Burnside  was  rep- 
resented as  incompetent  and  the  ist  Rhode  Island  Regi- 
ment as  cowardly,  while  the  rival  concern  of  Brown  & 
Ives  was  declared  to  be  corrupting  all  by  its  enormous 
wealth. 


28  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

To  this  Mr.  Anthony  made  hnmediate  reply,  and  the 
invective  was  probably  the  most  severe  that  he  uttered  in 
the  Senate,  although  his  most  withering  condemnation 
was  in  the  sarcasm  which  he   could  employ  so  effectively. 
The  Sprague  house  was  already  tottering  and  the  crash 
came  a  few  years  later,  when  an  enormous  fortune  was 
found  to  be  in  a  chaotic  state  and  was  finally  dissipated. 
The  Journal  refrained  from  making  more  comment  than 
was  actually  needed  on  a  disaster  that  shook  financial 
circles.     The  chief  reason  urged  in  explanation  of  Sen- 
ator Sprague's  attack  on  Gen.   Burnside  was  that  the 
officer  had  resented  what  had  seemed  to  him  interference 
with  his  command  when  Gov.  Sprague  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war  was  impatiently  urging  action  and  the  invasion 
of  Southern  territory,  but  Gen.  Burnside  had  his  revenge 
in  being  elected  to  succeed  Senator  Sprague  in  1875.     In 
all  the  disasters  to  the  Sprague  family  Mr.  Anthony  had 
prevented  the  Journal  from  making  severe  reflections  on 
their  afi'airs,  and  when  he  was  attacked  for  hostility  he 
explained  how  moderate  his  course  had  been,  since  he 
often  allowed  correspondents  for  out-of-town  papers  to 
proclaim  unfavorable  news  first  rather  than  risk  any  suspi- 
cion of  unfairness  to  the  Spragues. 

Senator  Anthony's  excellent  command  of  language, 
taken  in  connection  with  his  large  circle  of  friends,  re- 
gardless of  party  lines,  led  to  his  selection  as  the  orator 
at  the  funerals  of  deceased  members  of  the  Senate  or  at 
ceremonies  after  their  death,  and  he  performed  this  ser- 
vice for,  among  others,  his  friend  Gen.  Burnside,  for  Henry 
Wilson,  and  for  Charles  Sumner.  Although  My.  Daniel- 
son  was  made  the  active  editor  in  1863,  Senator  Anthony 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  29 

continued  to  write  for  the  Journal  from  Washington,  and 
contributed  to  the  paper  still  more  regularly  when  he  re- 
turned to  Rhode  Island  in  the  intervals  between  sessions. 
When  he  died,  September  6,  1884,  he  had  served  in  the 
national  body  over  twenty-five  years,  a  longer  term 
than  had  been  accorded  to  any  other  member,  except 
Senator  Benton.  No  more  notable  funeral  w^as  ever  held 
in  Rhode  Island  than  Senator  Anthony's,  for  in  the  church 
were  President  Arthur,  a  dozen  United  States  Senators, 
most  of  them  men  of  national  reputation,  judges  and  other 
State  officials.  Formal  recognition  of  Senator  Anthony's 
character  and  public  services  was  made  in  Congress,  and 
the  Rhode  Island  Assembly  paid  him  similar  respect. 

But,  after  the  record  of  his  achievements  and  public 
services  had  been  recounted,  it  was  left  to  Miss  S.  S. 
Jacobs,  an  intimate  friend  of  the  family,  to  picture  Mr. 
Anthony  as  he  was  known  to  his  friends.  The  entertain- 
ments to  companions  at  his  home  on  Benevolent  street 
were  long  remembered  by  those  who  enjoyed  the  im- 
promptu and  informal  gatherings.  From  an  incident  in 
a  servant's  experience,  when  he  made  as  an  excuse  for 
a  late  return  one  night  that  "things  weren't  passed  around 
until  nearly  midnight,"  was  originated  the  expression  so 
familiar  to  Senator  Anthony's  companions  of  ''passing 
things  around"  when  refreshments  were  to  be  served. 
He  was  a  restless  man,  and  in  later  life  he  often  stopped  in 
the  course  of  a  meal  and  walked  the  floor  as  he  planned  out 
in  his  mind  the  comment  he  was  to  write.  Sometimes  he 
would  go  to  the  office  absorbed  with  a  subject  and  without 
removing  overcoat  or  gloves  would  write  rapidly,  his 
head  bending  down  closer  to  the  paper  each  moment 


30  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

until  he  would  suddenly  throw  it  back  with  a  quick  move- 
ment, and,  passing  his  hand  across  his  forehead,  would 
sweep  back  the  wealth  of  hair  that  had  tumbled  down 
over  his  face.  His  favorite  pen  was  a  quill,  and  his  literary 
compositions  were  committed  to  blue  foolscap  paper. 
As  long  as  his  pet  Oscar  lived,  the  dog  usually  sat  at  his 
feet  in  the  office,  and  his  love  for  such  animals  was  alwavs 
apparent,  for  he  frequently  stopped  to  caress  Sam,  the 
intelligent  dog  he  met  at  the  entrance  to  the  Washington 
building  before  he  ascended  the  stairs.  Usually  a  car- 
nation adorned  his  buttonhole,  an  affectation  that  was 
considered  dandified  in  Washington  by  those  whose 
acquaintance  with  him  was  slight.  Among  his  personal 
letters  there  were  many  chaffing  communications  where 
the  nonsense  was  only  a  veil  concealing  deep  sentiment. 
Amid  his  work  he  found  time  to  add  much  to  the  Harris 
collection  of  poetry,  which  he  presented  to  the  Brown 
University  library,  containing  nearly  all  the  editions  pub- 
lished of  American  verse  to  the  time  of  the  Senator's 
death. 

The  editor  who  next  made  his  impress  on  the  Journal, 
and  organized  its  newsgathering  and  mechanical  de- 
partments to  meet  modern  conditions,  was  George 
Whitman  Danielson,  a  trained  printer,  who  came  to 
Providence  after  several  publishing  ventures  and  joined 
the  staff  of  the  Providence  Post,  a  Democratic  newspaper, 
with  whose  proprietors  he  finally  disagreed.  He  left  the 
Post  in  1859,  and  with  Albert  R.  Cooke  established  the 
Evening  Press,  which  was  conducted  as  an  independent 
influence  in  politics.  He  left  this  in  the  fall  of  1862,  and 
for  a  short  time  wrote  letters  from  the  camps  of  Union 


GEORGE    W.    DANIELSOX. 


POWER   OF   THE   PAIiTY   ORGAN.  31 

soldiers  at  the  front.  In  a  few  months  he  was  invited  to 
purchase  a  share  in  the  Journal,  and  January  i,  1863,  he 
was  installed  as  an  editor,  with  especial  charge  of  the 
mechanical  department.  Extra  papers  were  then  in 
demand  to  give  the  war  news,  and  the  press  was  sometimes 
kept  busy  all  day  issuing  brief  bulletins  about  battles  or 
the  movements  of  the  armies.  Mr.  Danielson's  experience 
with  the  Evening  Press  convinced  him  that  the  Journal 
might  well  venture  upon  such  an  enterprise ;  so  he  helped 
start  the  Evening  Bulletin  January  26,  1863,  and  took 
especial  charge  of  it  from  the  first. 

Mr.  Danielson  was  preeminently  an  executive  manager 
and  organizer,  but  he  later  trained  himself  in  writing  until 
he  could  express  himself  in  terse  and  vigorous  English. 
Short  paragraphs  were  his  specialty,  and  were  also  the 
despair  of  those  who  attempted  to  keep  up  the  column  in 
his  absence.  It  had  been  generally  known  that  Mr. 
Danielson  was  an  indefatigable  worker,  but  the  tireless 
energy  which  he  expended  in  editorial  work  was  more  ap- 
parent after  he  took  charge  of  the  Bulletin  and  the  Journal, 
for  he  was  usually  on  duty  from  10  o'clock  in  the  morning 
until  the  evening  edition  went  to  press  about  4  o'clock. 
He  would  then  return  about  8  o'clock  in  the  evening  and 
keep  at  his  desk  until  long  after  midnight.  His  training 
in  the  composing  room  and  experience  in  handling  forms 
made  it  difficult  for  him  to  intrust  to  others  the  make-up 
of  the  editorial  page;  so  he  usually  donned  an  old  alpaca 
coat  and  took  the  foreman's  place  when  it  was  time 
to  arrange  in  the  page  the  articles  he  had  been  writing. 
Whether  news  editing,  exchange  clipping,  or  proof- 
reading, Mr.  Danielson  supervised  the  whole  work,  and 


32  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

it  is  said  that  he  personally  scanned  every  line  before  it 
aj^peared  in  the  paper.  Others  have  spent  long  hours  at 
their  desks  without  accomplishing  the  work  that  Mr. 
Danielson  could  dispatch,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  he 
undertook  more  detail  than  was  necessary  for  his  personal 
supervision  and  that  he  injured  his  health  by  such  close 
application.  But  he  loved  the  work,  and  it  was  his  one 
ambition  to  make  the  Journal  a  great  newspaper;  for  that 
object  he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  personal  comfort.  It  is 
said  that  he  would  start  on  a  vacation,  but  before  he  ar- 
rived at  his  destination  would  take  a  train  home  and  resume 
his  seat  at  the  editorial  desk.  But,  in  spite  of  his  busy  life, 
he  was  perhaps  even  more  democratic  than  Mr.  Anthony; 
for  he  was  never  too  busy  to  see  a  caller,  and  he  gave  no  in- 
dication to  the  visitor  that  his  presence  was  not  desirable. 
Each  editor  brings  his  own  set  of  contributors  to  a  paper, 
and  those  Mr.  Danielson  interested  in  writing  for  the 
Journal  were  especially  numerous.  He  continued  this 
policy  of  increasing  his  acquaintance  and  enriching  the 
paper  through  the  offerings  of  friends  all  through  his 
twenty  years  of  service.  He  soon  learned  whom  he  could 
depend  on  to  write  a  certain  class  of  article,  so  that  the 
comments  of  the  Journal  on  current  events  were  usually 
prepared  by  skilled  writers  familiar  with  the  facts.  Mr. 
Danielson's  grip  on  the  paper  was  strengthened  each  year, 
until  he  might  well  be  considered  the  sole  authority  in 
the  absence  of  Mr.  Anthony.  In  fact  he  desired  this  im- 
pression to  prevail,  not  from  any  vanity  or  arrogance  but 
largely  because  he  best  knew  each  department.  Thus 
when  a  caller  inquired  for  the  city  editor  he  was  likely 
to  be  referred  to  IMr.  Danielson,  although  details  of  muni- 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  T^T, 

cipal  matter  were  well  attended  to  by  a  subordinate  in 
that  position. 

When  the  New  England  Associated  Press  sought  a 
president  outside  of  Boston,  on  account  of  jealousies  that 
might  arise  if  he  were  chosen  from  that  city,  Mr.  Danielson 
was  taken  because  of  this  intimate  knowledge  of  every 
branch  of  the  business  of  collecting  and  distributing  the 
news.  Good  judgment,  common  sense,  and  a  conciliatory 
disposition  were  also  recognized  in  the  choice.  Mr. 
Danielson's  domestic  happiness  came  late  in  life,  and  it 
was  characteristic  that  he  should  become  interested  in  a 
contributor  to  the  paper,  whom  he  married ;  but  even  dur- 
ing married  life  his  labors  on  the  Journal  were  not  relaxed. 
As  Senator  Anthony  had  to  spend  much  of  his  time  in 
Washington,  Mr.  Danielson  became  his  successor  in  the 
editorial  room  conferences,  which  had  become  more 
political  and  social,  until  the  policies  of  the  party  and 
the  selection  of  candidates  for  elections  or  appointment 
were  usually  made  there.  The  editor  became  more  dis- 
tinctly a  leader,  and  if  credit  were  given  to  Senator  An- 
thony for  an  appointment  it  was  usually  the  result  of  con- 
ferences with  Mr.  Danielson,  who  was  Mr.  Anthony's 
representative  at  home.  The  modern  party  "boss" 
may  not  seek  ofhce  himself  but  he  is  usually  interested  in 
schemes  which  hinge  on  the  political  moves  he  makes. 
Mr.  Danielson  did  not  profit  by  his  participation  in 
politics ;  all  the  work  was  done  for  the  love  of  it  and  the 
satisfaction  that  came  from  the  exercise  of  power.  The 
Journal  was  more  strictly  Republican  under  Mr.  Daniel- 
son than  it  had  ever  been,  and  it  not  only  continued  to 


34  FIFTY  YEARS  WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

voice  the  sentiments  of  the  party,  but  also  dictated  each 
detail  of  the  party  work  in  the  State. 

Although  Mr.  Anthony  considered  himself  likely  to  die 
before  his  partner,  Mr.  Danielson,  and  had  drawn  up  an 
agreement  providing  for  the  disposition  of  the  paper,  it 
was  Mr.  Danielson  who  was  stricken  first,  and  his  life 
passed  out  in  March,  1884,  six  months  before  Mr.  An- 
thony died.  It  was  a  tribute  to  Mr.  Danielson's  devotion 
to  the  paper  and  his  idea  of  the  impersonality  of  journalism 
that  no  editions  were  suspended  on  the  day  of  his  death. 
The  evidences  of  mourning  at  his  funeral  were  notable, 
for  while  they  did  not  include  expressions  from  men  in 
public  life,  as  in  the  case  of  Senator  Anthony,  the  tributes 
to  Mr.  Danielson  were  just  as  sincere  and  the  evidences  of 
the  part  he  had  taken  in  local  politics  were  fully  as  con- 
spicuous as  at  the  funeral  of  his  senior  partner.  In  the 
kindly  estimates  made  of  his  character  there  was  one 
tribute  on  which  all  might  agree— Mr.  Danielson  was 
devoted  to  the  paper  and  loyal  to  its  friends.  Many  in- 
stances are  related  to  illustrate  this  characteristic,  for 
when  he  once  found  that  a  man  could  be  depended  on  he 
stood  by  him,  even  if  it  involved  the  risk  of  offending 
personal  friends  outside  the  newspaper  oflke. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Danielson,  followed  in  six  months  by 
the  fatal  termination  of  the  illness  from  which  Senator 
Anthony  suffered,  removed  two  conspicuous  personalities 
and  seemed  to  leave  the  paper  bereft  of  a  certain  indi- 
viduality in  the  minds  of  many  who  had  known  it  best 
through  them.  In  a  way  the  impression  made  by  Mr. 
Danielson  was  fully  as  striking  as  that  which  Senator 
Anthony  created,  for  he  mingled  more  with  the  mass  of 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  35 

common  people,  while  the  Senator  was  more  reserved,  both 
by  nature  and  from  the  circumstances  of  his  official  life. 
Senator  Anthony  had  been  a  Whig,  and  that  very  name 
implied  aristocracy  to  some  people.  On  the  other  hand  it 
was  natural  and  characteristic  that  Mr.  Danielson  should 
prefer  to  ride  home  in  a  lunch-wagon,  when  he  finished 
his  duties  at  night,  a  custom  he  followed  for  the  last  six 
years  of  his  life.  And  yet  the  face  of  this  plain  man  of 
the  people  seemed  to  take  on  the  "blood  and  iron"  lines 
of  a  Bismarck  to  those  who  had  reason  to  feel  the  power 
that  was  behind  that  mask. 

The  interregnum  that  followed  the  death  of  Senator 
Anthony  and  continued  until  the  organization  of  the  paper 
by  the  new  owners  under  a  charter  really  began  on  the 
death  of  Mr.  Danielson;  for  Senator  Anthony  was  in 
poor  health,  and  his  remaining  strength  was  too  much 
absorbed  in  Washington  duties  for  him  to  take  the  manage- 
ment of  the  paper.  Hence  Senator  Anthony  divided  the 
responsibility  for  the  conduct  of  the  newspaper  between 
the  three  employees  he  most  trusted,  and  each  signed  a 
contract  assuming  the  trust.  To  Henry  R.  Davis  he 
gave  the  financial  management;  to  A.  M.  Williams,  the 
editorial  supervision;  and  to  William  J.  Danielson,  the 
mechanical  deparment,  including  the  purchase  of  sup- 
plies. Mr.  Danielson  was  the  brother  of  George  W. 
Danielson  and  had  been  employed  in  the  counting  room 
nearly  twenty-two  years.  In  fact  he  came  to  the  Journal 
a  few  weeks  before  his  brother  and  had  taken  an  important 
part  in  the  conduct  of  the  business.  He  now  conducts 
an  advertising  agency,  and  thus  continues  his  newspaper 
associations. 


36  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

Alfred  M.  Williams,  who  had  been  the  leading  edi- 
torial writer,  took  the  burden  of  the  management  when 
the  Journal  was  being  reorganized  as  a  corporation,  and  he 
was  afterwards  installed  as  managing  editor.  It  was 
soon  apparent  that  party  prestige  was  an  inherited  tra- 
dition, for  his  tastes  did  not  incline  toward  politics.  He 
was  more  strictly  a  literary  man,  and  whatever  he  did  to 
continue  the  political  management  so  long  conducted 
by  the  Journal  was  undertaken  as  a  duty  rather  than  an 
absorbing  pursuit.  But  he  did  not  have  to  serve  the 
party  organization  long,  and  lived  to  see  the  Journal  be- 
come an  independent  newspaper,  free  from  the  associations 
that  had  so  long  restricted  its  influence. 

Mr.  Williams's  coming  to  the  Journal  had  brought 
a  distinct  individuality,  unfamiliar  to  Providence,  for 
although  he  was  a  New  Englander  by  birth  and  breeding, 
born  in  Taunton  and  spending  two  years  in  Brown 
University,  he  had  recently  left  a  region  known  then  as 
the  "West,"  where  he  had  been  editing  a  newspaper 
under  unfavorable  conditions.  When  he  took  the  paper 
at  Neosho,  Mo.,  it  was  known  as  the  Investigator,  but  he 
had  changed  its  name  to  the  Journal  and  had  advocated 
Republican  principles  in  that  Democratic  community. 
Taking  advantage  of  his  proximity  to  Indians,  he  had 
studied  their  life  and  had  become  interested  in  their  lan- 
guage and  folk-lore.  The  newspaper  was  not  a  success 
and  his  health  was  broken,  so  he  returned  to  the  East  to 
start  anew. 

Previous  to  this  western  experience  IMr.  Williams  had 
visited  Ireland,  for  Horace  Greeley  had  been  interested  by 
his  letters  from  the  front  during  the  Civil  War  and  had 


ALFRED    M.    WILLIAMS. 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  37 

sent  him  abroad  in  1865  to  investigate  for  the  New  York 
Tribune  the  Fenian  question,  which  was  then  agitating 
the  country.  His  arrest  as  a  suspect  by  the  British 
authorities  and  his  release  through  the  intervention  of 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  the  United  States  Minister, 
were  events  that  forcibly  directed  his  attention  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  oppressed,  and  the  lessons  of  that  first  visit 
had  been  so  impressed  on  his  mind  and  heart  that  they 
had  influenced  his  work  afterwards. 

Such  was  the  experience  that  Mr.  Williams  brought 
with  him  when  he  visited  Providence  in  1875  to  seek  em- 
ployment. An  accident  had  delayed  the  train  in  which 
he  came,  so  he  stopped  at  the  Journal  office  to  write  out  a 
story  of  the  wreck.  Mr.  Danielson  was  interested  in 
this  readiness  to  serve  the  paper,  and  he  gave  Mr.Williams 
a  place  as  day  reporter,  which  he  was  glad  to  accept 
although  it  was  much  inferior  to  the  one  he  had  recently 
held.  During  the  Anthony  and  Danielson  management  he 
had  acted  in  a  subordinate  capacity,  but  when  he  became 
managing  editor  after  their  deaths  he  soon  became  identified 
with  the  movement  that  resulted  in  the  release  of  the 
newspaper  from  the  oligarchy  that  had  long  dominated 
Rhode  Island  politics. 

The  Blaine  campaign  was  then  in  full  swing,  and  the 
lukewarm  position  taken  by  the  paper  toward  the  Maine 
statesman  strengthened  the  impression  that  politicians 
could  no  longer  rely  on  it  for  organic  support  of  policies 
or  candidates.  For  the  next  four  years  the  Journal  grew 
more  independent,  openly  opposing  the  Republican  State 
ticket  in  1887,  until  it  was  formally  read  out  of  the  party 


38  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

in  1888,  a  performance  which  greatly  amused  Mr.  Wil- 
liams who  was  a  spectator. 

During  these  strenuous  days  Mr.  Williams  had  been 
forced  to  leave  his  work  temporarily  to  seek  relief  in  1887, 
when  he  was  bereaved  by  the  death  of  his  wife,  and  he 
again  made  a  voyage  to  Europe.  When  in  Ireland  he 
took  occasion  to  visit  the  home  of  the  Banim  brothers, 
whose  talented  sister  had  been  a  contributor  to  the  Journal. 

After  serving  seven  years  as  managing  editor  of  the 
Journal  Mr.  Williams  again  went  to  Europe  in  1891  and 
never  returned  to  the  office,  for  he  resigned  July  23,  in- 
tending to  take  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  freedom 
from  care  for  the  enjoyment  of  a  long  rest.  His  interest 
in  Sam  Houston  of  Texas  led  to  a  visit  to  that  state  and 
the  preparation  of  a  biography  of  the  noted  pioneer, 
which  has  preserved  for  historical  use  many  traditions 
that  otherwise  might  have  been  lost.  He  was  engaged  in 
independent  literary  pursuits  for  several  years,  and  in 
1896  he  went  to  the  West  Indies,  from  which  he  con- 
tributed letters  to  the  Journal. 

A  strange  and  almost  pathetic  coincidence  was  the  fact 
that  in  the  last  of  these  letters  Mr.  Williams  told  the  story 
of  a  tragedy  at  St.  Kitts,  in  which  the  circumstances  were 
so  similar  to  those  attending  his  own  death  and  burial 
that  it  sounded  like  a  prophecy.  He  had  been  enjoying 
a  cruise  around  the  Windward  Islands,  and  on  March  4, 
1896,  he  related  his  experiences  on  the  boat  Tyne,  which 
had  observed  heliograph  flashes  from  a  lonesome  spot  on 
the  coast,  known  as  the  rock  of  Rodonda,  where  a  solitary 
family  lived  in  isolation. 

'*It  is  evidently  a  heliograph"  he  declared,  writing  in 


POWER  OF  THE  PARTY  ORGAN.  39 

the  present  tense,  "with  which  the  manager  is  endeavoring 
to  communicate  with  us  for  something  or  other,  perhaps 
it  is  an  urgent  appeal  for  aid."  There  was  no  one  on 
board  who  could  decipher  the  message,  so  the  Tyne  sailed 
on.  The  doubt  and  anxiety  felt  as  to  the  significance  of 
the  message  led  Mr.  Williams  to  relate  in  his  letter  the 
following   incident : 

''There  is  a  tragedy  connected  with  Rodonda,  which 
saddens  the  thought  in  connection  with  the  unheeded 
appeal.  A  young  English  gentleman,  the  only  son  of 
the  owner  of  the  mine,  visited  the  island,  and  cruising 
about  in  one  of  the  boats  got  soaking  wet  in  a  tropical 
shower,  the  sun  brought  on  fever,  and  when  he  landed  in 
St.  Kitts  he  was  in  a  perilous  condition.  Symptoms  of 
yellow  fever  manifested  themselves,  and  after  lingering 
a  few  days  he  died.  Within  a  few  hours  he  was  buried  and 
the  news  was  flashed  under  the  sea  to  his  parents.  They 
could  not  have  the  consolation  of  having  his  body  sent 
home,  as  he  died  of  a  pestilence,  and  a  photograph  of  his 
grave,  with  the  wreaths  placed  on  it  by  kindly,  if  stranger, 
hands,  is  the  only  memorial  they  can  have  of  his  last 
resting  place.  Let  us  hope  that  no  such  tragedy  is  now 
happening  on  the  solitary  rock  of  Rodonda  as  we  steam 
away   in   the   golden   twilight." 

The  very  next  day  after  this  was  written,  Mr.  Williams 
was  stricken  with  mortal  illness,  and  he  died  March  9. 
He  had  to  be  buried  almost  immediately  on  the  distant 
island,  while  the  friends  who  made  vain  attempts  to  move 
the  body  had  only  the  satisfaction  of  a  photograph  of 
the  lonely  grave.  The  Journal  printed  the  news  of  his 
death,  and  his  obituary,  March  22,  and  on  the  same  day 


40  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

the  prophetic  letter  appeared  in  another  column  of  the 
paper. 

In  personal  relations  ISIr,  Williams  may  have  seemed  a 
little  brusque  in  manner,  especially  to  strangers,  but  one 
peculiarity  in  his  appearance,  produced  by  his  drooping 
eyelids,  which  he  usually  raised  with  thumb  and  forefinger 
when  addressing  a  person,  was  the  result  of  a  malady 
he  contracted  in  the  war,  which  seemed  to  settle  about  his 
eyes.  He  walked  erect,  with  military  precision,  and  when 
he  first  came  to  Providence  he  wore  a  sombrero  well 
drawn  down  over  his  forehead,  so  it  is  no  wonder  the 
stranger  invited  a  second  look  from  those  who  first  met 
him.  But  back  of  the  apparently  stern  and  forbidding  ex- 
terior friends  soon  found  that  he  had  warm  sympathies 
proceeding  from  a  tender  heart.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  other 
Journal  editor  was  loved  more  than  he  by  those  who  won 
his  confidence,  and  to  them  he  was  a  delightful  compan- 
ion. He  enlarged  his  literary  acquaintance  until  it  included 
such  writers  as  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  the  poet,  and  his 
sympathies  for  members  of  the  profession  found  ex- 
pression through  his  activity  in  the  Providence  Press  Club, 
which  he  assisted  in  organizing  and  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent in  its  most  successful  days. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  INDEPENDENT  PAPER. 

The  Organization  of  the  Journal  Company  in  1885. — 
The  Coming  into  Control  of  Mr.  Rowland. — Reading 
the  Paper  Out  of  the  Republican  Party.^ — Notable 
Growth  as  an  Independent  Newspaper. — The  Person- 
nel of  the  Present  Staff. 


THE  INDEPENDENT  PAPER. 

It  was  an  important  date  in  the  history  of  the  Journal 
when,  on  May  23,  1885,  the  Journal  Company  was  formed 
and  Richard  S.  Rowland  became  the  editor  and  treasurer. 
At  that  time  William  A.  Hoppin  was  elected  president, 
and  Henry  R.  Davis,  clerk  and  cashier.  (In  1894  Mr. 
Davis,  continuing  in  this  capacity,  was  also  made  a  di- 
rector.) In  1886  Lucian  Sharpe  was  chosen  president. 
He  served  until  his  death,  October  17,  1899,  when  Mr. 
Hoppin  again  became  the  president. 

Mr.  Sharpe's  death  was  marked  in  a  resolution  of  the 
directors,  wherein  the  deceased  was  referred  to  as  ^'a 
most  valued  adviser  whom  it  will  be  impossible  to  replace," 
and  it  was  said  of  him:  "It  was  always  his  earnest  wish 
that  the  machinery  and  organization  of  the  Journal  should 
be  kept  at  the  highest  standard  attainable.  The  labor  of 
his  life  was  to  obtain  the  best  in  all  things,  and  he  helped 
the  entire  community  by  his  precept  and  example." 

It  was  under  Mr.  Howland  that  the  Journal  broke 
away  from  its  Republican  moorings.  In  the  salutatory 
on  the  editorial  page  of  June  3,  1885,  which  announced 
that  a  new  hand  had  taken  the  helm,  it  was  stated  that 
the  paper  would  still  be  Republican,  but  notice  was  given 
of  independence  which  gradually  grew  intolerable  to 
rock-ribbed  partisans. 

Richard  S.  Howland  was  born  in  New  Bedford,  on 
July  12,   1847,  and  was  graduated  at  Brown  in   1868, 


44  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

later  taking  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  He  studied  a 
year  at  Berlin  University,  having  previously  spent  some 
months  in  European  travel.  Several  generations  of  his 
family  had  engaged  in  the  shipping  business,  both  mer- 
chant and  whaling.  In  1871  Mr.  Howland  visited  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  Subsequently  he  was  established  in 
California,  where  he  remained  until  1885.  During  his 
whole  life  he  has  been  traveling  at  odd  intervals,  having 
visited  not  only  every  State  in  the  Union  and  followed  the 
common  paths  of  European  tourists,  but  also  having  been 
in  Africa,  South  America,  and  many  of  the  West  India 
Islands.  If  his  points  of  view  have  been  oftener  those  of 
the  cosmopolite  than  of  the  provincial  New  Englander, 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  miles  that  he  has  traveled 
throw  some  light  upon  the  reasons. 

There  was  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth  in  some  quar- 
ters, and  many  dire  predictions  of  disaster  were  uttered, 
when  the  Journal  began  to  prod  Republicans  as  well  as 
Democrats  and  to  advance  the  doctrine  of  freer  trade  and 
other  political  principles  previously  attacked  by  the  paper. 
Could  there  be  anything  but  orthodoxy  in  "the  Rhode 
Island  Bible,"  as  the  Journal  was  often  called?  At 
last  the  truth  began  to  dawn,  but  somehow  the  Journal 
prospered  even  more  than  it  had  when  it  was  a  party 
organ.  One  has  only  to  look  back  at  the  files  twenty 
years  ago  to  realize  how  remarkable  the  changes  have  been, 
how  comprehensive  the  improvement  in  news-gathering, 
and  how  tremendous  the  increase  in  advertising.  To 
be  sure  the  Providence  Journal  of  1884  was  not  as  an- 
tiquated or  as  poorly  printed  as  the  average  Paris  journal 
of  1904,  but  it  looks  strange  indeed  beside  the  larger, 


THE   INDEPENDENT  PAPER.  45 

more  substantial,  more  up-to-date  Providence  Journal 
of  1904. 

During  the  years  of  1 885-1887,  while  George  Peabody 
Wetmore  was  Governor,  the  Journal  was  constantly  pro- 
voking rabid  Republicans  to  sheer  desperation.  Under 
an  owner  who  really  would  not  regard  the  party  as  sans 
peiir  et  sans  repyoche,  and  with  editorial  writers,  the  pithy 
products  of  whose  pens  daily  shots  chills  up  and  down 
the  spines  of  Rhode  Island  Republicans,  the  paper  be- 
came the  target  of  critics  whose  rage  was  stronger  than 
their  sense  of  humor.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Journal 
never  lost  its  sense  of  humor.  Read  its  editorial  columns 
of  those  years  and  you  find  in  almost  every  issue  proof 
that  the  man  behind  the  editorial  gun  must  have  laughed 
and  grown  fat  as  the  protesting  heathen  raged  and  grew 
thin. 

There  was  a  state  of  high  tension,  intensified  by  four 
years  of  Democratic  rule  at  Washington,  when  the  Re- 
publican State  convention  was  called  for  May  3,  1888,  to 
elect  delegates  to  the  national  convention.  Such  a  para- 
graph as  this,  which  appeared  that  morning  in  an  editorial 
comparison  of  conditions  in  Lousiana  with  those  in  Rhode 
Island,  did  not  soothe  the  perturbed  minds  of  Repub- 
licans: 

"The  contest  would  have  been  decided  honestly  by 
both  parties,  except  for  the  fear  of  corruption  by  the  other. 
But  there  is  a  purchasable  and  corrupt  element  in  the 
State,  which  has  existed  for  many  years,  sufficient  to  de- 
cide the  elections  and  both  parties  attempted  to  gain  it. 
The  Republicans  had  the  most  money  and  were  suc- 
cessful." 


46  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

The  plan  was  formed  to  read  the  Journal  out  of  the 
party.  Mr.  Williams,  who  was  then  writing  the  political 
leaders,  did  not  fail  to  appreciate  the  situation.  He  en- 
gaged a  box  at  the  Opera  House,  where  the  dire  sentence 
was  to  be  passed,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  ceremony.  The 
event  was  thus  foreshadowed  in  the  Journal: 

"It  is  understood  that  one  of  the  solemn  functions  of 
the  Republican  convention  to-day,  after  the  ratification 
of  the  list  of  delegates  already  selected,  will  be  the  reading 
of  the  Journal  out  of  the  party  with  the  ceremonies  of 
the  major  excommunication  and  quenching  the  candles 
upon  it.  In  itself  this  may  be  regarded  as  somewhat  of 
a  work  of  supererogation,  but  the  performance  will  un- 
doubtedly be  of  considerable  thaumaturgic  interest." 

Hon.  W.  A.  Pirce  was  the  chairman  of  the  district  con- 
vention, which  was  called  first,  and  he  made  a  character- 
istic speech,  in  which  he  attacked  the  Journal,  recounting 
a  list  of  grievances  Republicans  had  suffered  at  its  hands. 
When  the  State  convention  followed,  these  resolutions, 
which  had  been  prepared  for  the  committee  by  Rathbone 
Gardner,  were  adopted  with  a  shout: 

"We  deem  it  expedient  at  this  time  to  put  on  record  the 
fact  that  the  newspapers  published  by  the  Providence 
Journal  Co.  have  long  since  ceased  to  represent  the  Re- 
publican party  in  this  State.  They  have  factiously 
opposed  wise  and  well  considered  acts  of  legislation  which 
were  devised  in  the  councils  of  the  party  and  have  been 
approved  by  the  consent  of  the  people.  They  have  wan- 
tonly misrepresented  the  acts  and  the  motives  of  honor- 
able gentlemen  Ijy  whom  those  laws  have  been  con- 
scientiously  and   laboriously   framed,    enacted   and   ad- 


THE  INDEPENDENT  PAPER.  47 

ministered.  They  have  recklessly  and  without  justi- 
fication or  excuse  charged  upon  the  party  a  selfish  and 
corrupt  use  of  the  elective  franchise  and  of  the  legislative 
vote ;  they  have  falsely  and  maliciously  traduced  the  good 
name  of  the  State;  they  have  betrayed  the  party  which 
they  professed  to  support  and  they  have  forfeited  all 
claim  to  public  confidence." 

The  expulsion  was  no  doubt  a  serious  matter  for  many 
Republicans,  who  had  regretted  the  independent  ten- 
dencies of  the  newspaper,  which  they  could  not  under- 
stand; but  the  Journal  accepted  the  situation  cheerfully, 
and  the  next  morning  clearly  outlined  its  policy  in  the 
following  language: 

"This  is  a  formidable  list  of  crimes,  and  the  worst  of 
it  is  that  they  are  all  true.  They  completely  disqualify 
the  Journal  from  being  considered  an  organ  of  the  Re- 
publican party.  They  deprive  it  of  all  standing  in  party 
conventions,  all  weight  in  party  counsels,  and  all  official 
recognition  of  any  name  and  nature.  So  much  must  be 
admitted  and  endured  by  the  Journal  with  such  suffer- 
ing and  humiliation  as  belongs  thereto.  Nevertheless, 
despised  and  cut  off  from  party  fellowship  as  it  is,  there 
are  certain  rights  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  under  the  general  terms  of '  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness,'  among  which  is  the  privilege 
which  the  Journal  will  claim  of  supporting  Republican 
candidates  when  it  believes  them  entitled  to  the  suffrage  of 
honest  and  intelligent  citizens  and  advocating  Republican 
principles  when  it  believes  them  calculated  to  subserve  the 
interests  of  the  country,  incidentally  telling  the  truth  as 
it  sees  it  at  all  times  and  courting  the  good  will  of  no  party 


48  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

or  individual  to  whom  the  truth  is  offensive  or  honest 
criticism  objectionable." 

The  editorial  column  closed  the  next  morning  with 
the  following  lines  on  the  Cardinal's  curse,  taken  from 
the  tale  of  the  Jackdaw  of  Rhcims  in  the  Ingoldsby 
Legends: 

"  The  Cardinal  rose  with  a  dignified  look. 
He  called  for  his  candle,  his  bell,  and  his  book! 
In  holy  anger  and  pious  grief 
He  solemnly  cursed  that  rascally  thief! 
He  cursed  him  at  board,  he  cursed  him  in  bed; 
From  the  sole  of  his  foot  to  the  crown  of  his  head. 
He  cursed  him  in  sleeping,  that  every  night 
He  should  dream  of  the  Devil,  and  wake  in  a  fright. 
He  cursed  him  in  eating,  he  cursed  him  in  drinking, 
He  cursed  him  in  coughing,  in  sneezing,  in  winking. 
He  cursed  him  in  sitting,  in  standing,  in  lying 
He  cursed  him  in  walking,  in  riding,  in  flying. 
Never  was  heard  such  a  terrible  curse! 

But  what  gave  rise 

To  no  little  surprise. 
Nobody  seemed  one  penny  the  worse." 

From  that  day  to  the  present  there  has  never  been  any 
doubt  of  the  Journal's  independence.  Somebody  de- 
scribed the  government  of  Rhode  Island  as  ''an  oligarchy 
tempered  by  the  Providence  Journal."  When  politicians 
have  attempted  to  make  capital  they  have  denounced  the 
paper  as  the  tool  of  this,  that,  or  the  other  corporation. 
"We  have  to  do  it,"  one  of  them  once  apologized.  ''It  is 
expected  of  us."  But  it  has  not  worried  the  Journal, 
which  has  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  its  way,  fighting 
against  a  corporation  when  the  public  weal  demanded 
it,  as  in  the  memorable  train-shed  contest  between  the 
New  York,  New  Haven  and  Hartford  railroad  and  the 


THE   INDEPENDENT   PAPER.  49 

city  of  Providence;  or  taking  the  side  of  a  corporation,  as 
in  the  uprising  of  the  Pawtucket  mob  during  the  street- 
railroad  strike. 

In  partisanship,  too,  it  has  steered  an  independent 
course.  Although  it  never  endorsed  the  high  tariff  views 
of  the  Republicans  during  the  McKinley  administration, 
it  upheld  the  party  in  its  attitude  subsequent  to  the  war 
with  Spain,  and  may  perhaps  claim  some  of  the  credit 
for  the  fact  that  anti-imperialism,  so  flourishing  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Boston,  took  no  root  whatever  in  Rhode 
Island  soil.  So,  too,  with  local  politics.  Since  it  has 
lately  seemed  that  the  Republicans,  representing  the 
industrial  progress  and  conservative  interests  of  the  State, 
have  deserved  to  control  the  General  Assembly  instead 
of  the  Democrats,  who  have  frequently  been  led  by 
socialists,  single-taxers,  and  notorious  demagogues,  Mr. 
Rowland  has  seen  to  it  that  the  influence  of  the  paper 
was  cast  on  the  side  of  more  promise.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  the  municipal  government  suffered  from  a 
lack  of  independent  action,  the  Journal  led  in  cultivating 
independence  in  city  elections  and  has  generally  been 
credited  with  electing  Democratic  mayors  of  Providence, 
who  probably  could  not  have  hoped  to  carry  the  city  with- 
out the  aid  of  the  Journal  in  preaching  the  doctrine  of 
non-partisanship  in  city  affairs. 

Although  he  has  written  much  himself  and  has  always 
been  the  director  of  the  Journal's  policy,  Mr.  Rowland 
has  encouraged  self-initiative  on  the  part  of  his  staff,  it 
being  his  theory  of  control  to  give  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments free  rein,  but  to  hold  them  constantly  responsible. 
Until   shortly  before  his  death,   Mr.   Williams  was  in 


50  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

charge  of  the  editorial  page.  Of  Mr.  Prynne's  service 
record  is  made  elsewhere.  Of  the  present  editorial  staff, 
Frederick  Roy  Martin  became  associate  editor  in  charge 
of  the  editorial  department  in  November,  1898.  Fred- 
eric N.  Luther  became  a  member  of  the  staff  in  1886, 
Walter  Hayward  in  1886,  Henry  R.  Palmer  in  1890, 
Edward  Fuller  in  1891,  Frederick  Hoppin  Rowland  in 
1893,  and  M.  Morris  Howland  in  1897.  All  the  present 
editorial  writers  have  been  trained  on  the  Journal  staff 
from  the  beginning  of  their  newspaper  careers  except  Mr. 
Martin  and  Mr.  Fuller,  who  came  from  service  on  Boston 
papers. 

Conspicuous  for  long  service  is  M.  S.  Dwyer,  who  began 
in  the  counting  room  in  1875,  after  carrying  papers  for 
about  two  years,  and  has  gradually  been  promoted  until  he 
has  charge  of  the  mechanical  departments  and  assumes 
general  superintendence  of  publication.  J.  J.  Rosenfeld, 
the  city  editor,  joined  the  staff  in  1891  and  took  his 
present  position  in  1893. 

Mr.  Rowland's  fondness  for  first-hand  investigation 
of  political  questions  carried  him  to  Venezuela  twice, 
when  public  attention  was  centred  on  the  disturbed 
international  relations  there,  and  to  Cuba  in  1898.  In 
both  instances  he  wrote  articles  for  the  Journal.  On  his 
return  from  Cuba,  where  he  studied  the  awful  results 
of  Spanish  rule  and  the  widespread  human  suffering, 
President  McKinley  sought  his  advice  as  to  the  best 
means  of  affording  both  immediate  and  permanent  relief. 
Subsequently  Mr.  Howland  made  visits  to  Algiers, 
whence  he  wrote  several  articles  for  publication ;  and  when 
Mexico's   depreciated    currency   was   uppermost    in    the 


THE   INDEPENDENT  PAPER.  51 

minds  of  students  of  finance  he  spent  several  months  in 
the  capital  of  that  republic,  where  he  obtained  through 
intercourse  with  the  leading  Mexican  statesmen  an  in- 
timate knowledge  of  the  growth  and  needs  of  the  republic. 
The  result  was  a  series  of  articles  on  the  social,  political, 
and  financial  questions  that  confront  the  Mexicans. 

In  short,  Mr.  Rowland,  though  a  New  Englander  by- 
birth,  has  always  been  in  a  position  to  look  at  questions 
from  a  less  provincial  point  of  view  than  most  New  Eng- 
landers.  For  five  years  he  has  made  his  home  in  Ashe- 
ville,  N.  C,  which  has  enabled  him  to  appreciate  the 
political  and  social  problems  of  the  South  as  the  average 
northerner  does  not.  This,  of  course,  has  been  reflected 
in  the  columns  of  the  Journal  with  the  usual  disregard  of 
how  the  views  expressed  would  affect  political  parties. 
Advertisers  appreciate  the  value  of  the  paper  because  the 
central  purpose  of  its  management  is  to  print  the  news. 
Its  opinions  have  not  been  governed  by  counting-room 
influences. 

Its  course  may  have  seemed  to  veer.  When  Republicans 
have  stood  for  corruption  and  have  needed  chastening  the 
Journal  has  helped  to  administer  it.  When  Republicans 
have  stood  for  sound  money,  for  civil  service  reform,  for 
a  courageous  grappling  with  our  new  problems  as  a  world 
power,  the  Journal  has  done  its  utmost  to  help  them.  Or, 
to  choose  a  local  example:  When  Brown  University  has 
been  under  the  guiding  influence  of  as  irresponsible 
and  erratic  a  personality  as  ever  controlled  a  New 
England  college,  the  Journal  has  given  it  good  advice, 
however  deeply  this  was  resented  in  certain  quarters. 
But  when  Brown  University  turned  toward  the  light  and 


52  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

adopted  saner  methods  under  saner  leaders,  nobody  ren- 
dered more  constant  aid  in  increasing  its  endowment  than 
did  the  Journal. 

During  its  years  of  progress  as  an  independent  paper 
the  Journal  has  avoided  "entangling  alliances"  and  has 
remained  free  to  ridicule  sham  in  all  its  guises.  Of 
enemies  it  has  doubtless  its  share — for  even  Athens,  the 
nearest  to  perfection  in  all  things  that  civilization  ever 
attained,  was  envied  by  all  the  other  cities  of  Greece — 
but  it  has  so  many  friends  that  to  name  them  all  would 
be  impossible.  It  has  endeavored  to  cultivate  the  good- 
will of  reasonable  people,  and  although  nobody  is  always 
reasonable,  most  persons  are  usually  so.  Upon  that 
truth  is  based  the  deep-rooted  feelings  of  mutual  con- 
fidence and  good-will  that  exist  between  the  Providence 
Journal  and  the  people  of  Rhode  Island. 

THE  JOURNAL   STAFF,    MaY    I,    1904. 

Richard  S.  Rowland,  editor-in-chief. 

Frederick  Roy  Martin,  associate  editor. 

Matthew  S.  Dwyer,  publisher. 

Henry  R.  Palmer,  editor,  Sunday  Journal. 

J.  J.  Rosenfeld,  city  editor. 

Frederic  N.  Luther,  editorial  writer. 

Edward  Fuller,  literary  editor. 

Frederick  Hoppin  Rowland,  editorial  writer. 

Walter  Hay  ward,  exchange  editor. 

John  R.  Hess,  industrial  editor. 

M.  Morris  Howland,  editorial  writer. 

Edmund  E.  Eastman,  night  news  editor. 

Charles  R.  Thurston,  day  news  editor. 


THE   INDEPENDENT   PAPER.  53 

Frank  E.  Jones,  night  telegraph  editor. 

Edmund  H.  Kirby,  day  telegraph  editor. 

Edward  M.  Albro,  news  department. 

David  B.  Rowland,  telegraph  department. 

George  W.  Carpenter,  Jr.,  assistant  city  editor. 

S.  Ashley  Gibson,  assistant  city  editor. 

Albert  C.  Rider,  secretary  to  editor. 

Horace  G.  Belcher,  Sunday  staff. 

J.  Earl  Clauson,  Sunday  staff. 

Frederick  W.  Jones,  Sunday  staff. 

William  A.  Potter,  music  critic. 

Miss  Grace  L.  Slocum,  woman's  department. 

Mrs.  Emma  Shaw  Colcleugh,  woman's  department. 

Miss  Elizabeth  R.  Kendall,  literary  department. 

Henry  M.  Barry,  reporter. 

Edward  A.  Batchelor,  reporter. 

Vernon  J.  Briggs,  reporter. 

Edward  K.  Browne,  reporter. 

Daniel  C.  Chace,  reporter. 

Marc  T.  Greene,  reporter. 

James  H.  Hogan,  reporter. 

Arthur  D.  Holland,  reporter. 

Wallace  E.  Jameson,  reporter. 

Harry  Knowles,  reporter. 

Lafayette  E.  Mowry,  reporter. 

James  P.  McNeilis,  reporter. 

Leonard  Nichols,  reporter. 

William  C.  Pelkey,  reporter. 

Arthur  L.  Philbrick,  reporter. 

William  Sandager,  reporter. 

Frederick  H.  Young,  reporter. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
EDITORS  AND  OTHER  WRITERS. 

President  James  B.  Angell,  of  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan.—His  Experiences  as  Editor  during  the  Strenuous 
Days  of  the  Civil  War. — Reminiscences  of  Senator 
Anthony. — The  unusual  equipment  of  James  S.  Ham 
for  Editorial  Work.— Notable  men  who  once  frequented 
the  Editorial  Rooms. 


EDITORS  AND  OTHER  WRITERS. 

"I  am  asked  to  give  some  recollections  of  my  connection 
with  the  Journal  and  also  of  the  contributions  which  my 
friends,  the  professors  in  Brown  University,  have  made 
to   its  columns. 

"I  returned  from  my  studies  in  Europe  in  August, 
1853,  and  entered  upon  my  duties  as  professor  at  Brown 
in  September.  From  my  early  boyhood  I  had  been  a 
regular  reader  of  the  Journal.  During  the  years  1854, 
1855,  1856,  I  contributed  several  communications  on 
European  affairs,  which  Governor  Anthony,  the  editor, 
chose  to  insert  as  editorials.  In  1857  he  made  a  regular 
engagement  with  me,  and  during  that  year  I  wrote  about 
one  article  a  week,  and  in  1858  I  furnished  a  larger  num- 
ber of  articles.  In  March,  1859,  Gov.  Anthony  took 
his  seat  in  the  Senate.  James  S.  Ham,  so  long  connected 
with  the  Journal,  was  left  in  editorial  charge,  while  I  was 
depended  on  to  furnish  the  bulk  of  the  editorial  matter. 
Still  discharging  my  professorial  duties,  I  wrote  a  large 
part  of  the  leading  articles  and  paragraphs.  Of  course 
I  no  longer  confined  myself  to  foreign  themes.  The  great 
national  issues,  which  brought  us  to  the  war  in  1861,  were 
looming  on  the  horizon  and  invited  earnest  and  con- 
tinuous discussion.  Senator  Anthony,  in  the  midst  of 
his  duties  in  Washington,  found  time  to  send  back  articles 
bearing  his  characteristic  stamp,  and  contributed  even 
more  frequently  while  at  home  in  the  recess  of  Congress. 


58  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

"It  required  some  time  for  him  to  feel  himself  as  much 
at  home  and  as  contented  in  the  Senate  chamber  as  he 
had  been  in  his  old  office  chair.  A  few  weeks  after  he 
took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  he  wrote  me  that  he  should  be 
happier  if  he  could  change  places  with  me.  But  of  course 
this  state  of  mind  did  not  last  long.  Yet  it  remained 
true  to  the  day  of  his  death  that  he  was  never  happier 
than  when  he  was  at  his  desk  and  surrounded  by  his  old 
friends  in  the  Journal  office. 

"The  spirit  in  which  he  conducted  the  Journal  while  he 
was  personally  in  charge  of  it,  and  in  which  he  always 
wished  it  conducted,  was  that  of  courtesy  towards  op- 
ponents and  of  optimism  concerning  the  country.  He 
could  be  very  trenchant  in  discussion,  if  necessary,  but 
he  disliked  an  acrid  and  bitter  temper.  Hence  both  he 
and  his  newspaper  were  in  most  cases  respected  and 
esteemed  by  his  most  determined  political  adversaries, 
He  frequently  repeated  the  old  saying,  '  molasses  catches 
more  flies  than  vinegar.'  He  was  fond  of  using  and 
employed  with  great  success  the  weapons  of  wit, 
humor,  and  raillery.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  a 
more  felicitous  writer  of  paragraphs  has  appeared  on 
the  staff  of  any  American  newspaper.  A  half-dozen  lines 
were  often  so  turned  by  him  as  to  demolish  an  opponent 
more  completely  than  a  labored  and  logical  'leader' 
by  a  less  deft  hand.  But  in  his  longer  articles,  written 
generally  with  great  rapidity  and  apparent  ease,  his  style 
was  most  lucid,  graceful,  and  chaste.  His  English  was 
a  model  of  simplicity  and  transparency.  It  made  easy 
reading.  It  had  a  sparkle  and  brightness  which  rendered 
his  articles,   on  however  dry  a  subject,   attractive  and 


EDITORS  AND   OTHER  WRITERS.  59 

interesting.  A  reader  who  began  one  of  his  '  leaders  '  was 
sure  to  finish  it.  Three  things  he  insisted  on  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  Journal.  First,  it  should  be  a  clean  paper, 
even  in  its  advertisements.  These  were  subjected  to 
as  severe  a  censorship  as  communications,  no  matter  what 
the  consequences  in  the  counting  room.  Second,  the 
English  in  the  paper  should  be  pure.  Third,  whatever 
the  Journal  could  do  for  the  honor,  the  prosperity,  the 
glory  of  Rhode  Island  should  be  done  at  whatever  sac- 
rifice. For  us  who  were  left  in  his  absence  to  carry  on 
the  work,  it  was  the  tradition  and  the  law  to  let  his 
spirit  prevail,  so  far  as  we  could  attain  to  it,  in  all  depart- 
ments of  the  paper.  How  far  we  succeeded,  it  is  for  others 
to  judge. 

"Perhaps  this  is  the  best  place  to  say  a  word  of  that 
remarkable  man,  James  S.  Ham,  who  was  responsible 
editor  from  the  spring  of  1859  till  August,  i860.  As  a 
printer,  he  had  lived  long  in  Washington  and  in  Cam- 
bridge and  had  been  a  careful  observer  of  public  men  and 
student  of  American  history.  I  have  never  met  a  man 
who  more  thoroughly  understood  our  political  history 
during  the  period  of  his  active  life,  say  from  1820  to  i860. 
I  am  confident  that  Senator  Anthony  would  have  joined 
me  in  acknowledging  the  great  indebtedness  of  the 
editorial  writers  on  the  Journal  for  years  to  Mr.  Ham 
for  the  stores  of  political  knowledge  which  he  placed  at 
their  disposal.  He  had  also  a  most  felicitous  gift  of  pre- 
paring careful  obituary  notices  of  prominent  men.  These 
were  the  only  contributions  which  he  was  willing  to  write, 
but  his  judgment  concerning  the  articles  which  might 
properly  appear,  and  especially  concerning  those  which 


6o  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

might  not  properly  appear,  fully  justified  the  confidence 
which  Senator  Anthony  felt  in  his  discretion.  But  for 
a  morbid  distrust  of  his  own  powers  and  a  depression  of 
spirits  verging  at  times  on  melancholia,  one  would  say  he 
ought  to  have  held  some  conspicuous  post  in  life. 

''During  the  year  i860  he  became  very  desirous  of 
laying  off  the  responsible  charge  of  the  Journal.  It  was 
growing  difficult  for  me  to  discharge  satisfactorily  to  my- 
self my  double  duties  as  teacher  and  editorial  writer. 
Accordingly  at  the  end  of  the  academic  year  I  resigned  my 
chair  in  the  college  and  accepted  the  invitation  to  take  the 
editorship,  subject  of  course  to  the  control  of  the  Sen- 
ator. That  position  I  held  from  the  summer  of 
i860  to  the  summer  of  1866.  A  more  interesting  and 
important  period  for  the  responsible  post  of  conducting 
such  a  newspaper  has  not  been  presented  in  our  history. 
Few  of  the  newspapers  in  our  country  have  so  won  the 
confidence  and  so  controlled  the  opinions  and  actions  of 
their  constituency  as  the  Providence  Journal  under  the 
editorship  of  Henry  B.  Anthony.  Its  opponents  used  to 
say  that  its  readers  considered  it  their  political  bible  and 
opened  it  in  the  morning  to  know  what  they  ought  to 
think.  The  opportunity,  the  privilege,  the  duty  of  such 
a  journal  at  such  an  epoch  no  one  comprehended  more 
thoroughly  than  Senator  Anthony.  His  inspiration  guided 
it  from  first  to  last.  By  his  frequent  letters  we  in  the  offices 
were  kept  in  constant  touch  wath  him,  and  through  him 
with  the  very  inmost  life  of  the  government.  Never  was 
a  more  indulgent  chief.  He  left  us  in  the  offices  the  utmost 
liberty  compatible  with  the  general  policy  of  the  paper. 
Though  with  my  limited  experience  I  must  have  made 


JAMES    B.   ANGELL. 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  6 1 

mistakes,  I  do  not  remember  that  he  ever  complained  to 
me  or  even  criticised  me,  except  as  criticism  may  some- 
times have  been  gently  implied  in  suggestions.  He  won 
the  esteem  and  the  affection  of  every  one  in  the  office. 
All  of  us  were  always  more  than  willing  to  meet  any  extra- 
ordinary demands  made  on  us  in  emergencies. 

"Those  who  now  enter  the  spacious  offices  of  the  Jour- 
nal and  see  its  large  mechanical  outfit  and  its  force  of 
writers,  reporters,  and  clerks  will  have  difficulty  in  under- 
standing on  how  modest  a  scale  it  was    then  conducted. 
Henry  R.  Davis,  who  still  remains  in  active  and  efficient 
service  in  the  counting  room,  was  then  the  only  accountant. 
Then  as  now,  by  his  sweet  temper  and  winning  manners, 
he  attracted  all  who  had  business  at  the  office.     Through 
all  these  years  he  has  done  his  full  part  in  securing  the 
prosperity  of  the  Journal,  to  which  he  has  been  loyal 
through  all  its  changes  of  ownership  and  editorship.     In 
those  days  he  was  often  called  on  for  service  outside  of 
the   counting   room.     He   was   sometimes   sent   through 
April  mud  to  Foster  and  Scituate  to  collect  election  returns, 
and  to  Hartford  or  to  Worcester  to  intercept  the  night 
train  from  New  York  to  Boston  via  Springfield  to  bring 
back  a  copy  of  the  President's  message  on  a  special 
locomotive  so  that  we  could  publish  it  by  morning.     I  not 
only  wrote  as  a  rule  all  the  editorial  articles,  but  read  all 
the  exchanges  and  made  the  clippings,  and  supervised 
and  edited  all  communications.     Not  more  than  a  column 
and  a  half  or  two  columns  of  editorial  matter  was  ordi- 
narily  expected.     We   had   no  regular  reporter,   except 
the  marine  reporter,  who  was  a  compositor  and  set  up 
the  news  he  gathered.     When  I  wished  a  reporter  I  sent 


62  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

out  and  found  one.  Two  or  three  college  students  held 
themselves  subject  to  my  call,  when  I  could  find  them. 
Francis  H.  Shepard,  a  bill  collector,  was  detailed  to  report 
the  proceedings  of  the  General  Assembly.  After  the  war 
came  on  I  engaged  some  young  officer  in  each  Rhode 
Island  regiment  and  each  battery,  generally  one  of  my 
college  pupils,  to  correspond,  and  very  well  they  all  did 
their  duty.  Not  unfrequently  after  I  had  gone  home  at 
T  o'clock  in  the  morning,  good  natured  Joe  Burroughs,  the 
foreman  of  the  printing  room,  God  bless  his  memory, 
came  to  my  house  with  some  important  news  from  the 
front,  and  I  crept  out  of  bed  and  in  very  slender  attire 
wrote  an  article  on  the  subject  for  him  to  take  back. 
There  is  no  one  of  the  surviving  staff  or  of  the  habitual 
visitors  of  the  old  sanctum  who  does  not  have  a  good  word 
for  Joe  Burroughs.  Never  impatient,  never  fretful  under 
the  heaviest  pressure  on  him  at  the  latest  hour,  he  was  a 
favorite  with  everyone.  The  Journal  was  a  four-page 
sheet  and  was  printed  on  an  old-fashioned  press  that  rested 
on  the  shaky  second-story  floor,  and  the  wonder  is  that  so 
good  looking  a  sheet  was  regularly  printed  with  so  few 
interruptions. 

''During  the  war  the  Journal  office  on  Washington 
Row  was  the  gathering  place  for  all  the  prominent  men  in 
the  city  and  in  the  State.  My  table  was  in  the  outer  room 
surrounded  by  these  men.  I  was  thus  able  to  feel  the 
public  pulse  every  day.  Among  those  most  frequently 
present  I  may  mention  Samuel  Ames,  Thomas  A.  Jenckes, 
Thomas  P.  Shepard,  William  Binney,  Sylvester  G. 
Shearman,  Nathan  F.  Dixon,  Henry  Lippitt,  Charles 
Hart,   Edward  H.   Hazard,  James  T.   Rhodes,  William 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  63 

Blodget  with  his  perpetual  fun,  and  Augustus  Hoppin 
dashing  off  with  a  blue  pencil  illustrations  of  current 
events  or  caricatures  of  noted  men.  I  could  write  much 
about  them.  One  could  not  but  catch  many  good 
suggestions  from  the  conversation  of  such  men.  We  used 
to  say,  more  expressively  than  elegantly,  that  'we  milked 
every  cow  that  came  into  our  yard.'  I  had  the  habit  of 
writing  while  they  were  conversing,  until  Judge  Ames 
began  to  talk.  There  was  something  so  fascinating  and 
brilliant  and  witty  in  his  conversation  that  I  used  to 
lay  down  my  pen  and  tell  him  that  I  would  wait  till 
he  had  finished.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Thack- 
eray praised  his  wit  in  most  complimentary  words.  Mr. 
Jenckes  had  the  most  extraordinary  memory  of  any  man 
I  have  known.  Especially  during  the  war  was  he  ready 
in  perceiving  resemblances  between  military  situations 
in  our  battles  and  those  in  the  battles  of  Julius  Caesar  or 
in  those  of  the  Peninsular  War  in  Spain  and  Portugal. 
And  on  looking  up  the  histories  I  always  found  him 
right. 

"Among  the  friends  of  Senator  Anthony  who  were  cer- 
tain to  call  at  the  office  in  passing  through  town  were 
Frank  Bird,  Schuyler  Colfax,  and  Charles  Sumner.  I 
remember  calls  also  from  Horace  Greeley  and  Henry  J. 
Raymond. 

"Among  the  correspondents  and  contributors  I  recall 
Mrs.  Jane  Anthony  Eames,  a  cousin  of  Senator  Anthony, 
who  wrote  letters  of  travel;  Rev.  E.  M.  Stone,  who  fur- 
nished religious  intelligence  and  local  historical  matter; 
John  R.  Bartlett,  Secretary  of  State,  who  gathered  literary 
items;  and  Henry  C.  Whitaker,  whose  charming  pictures 


64  FIFTY   YEARS  WITH  THE  JOURNAL. 

of  everyday  life  in  town  and  country  reminded  one  of 
Charles  Lamb. 

*'  Of  the  faculty  of  Brown  University  Professor  Goddard 
and  Professor  Gammell  were  before  my  connection  with 
the  Journal  the  most  frequent  contributors.  Most  of 
the  work  of  the  former  antedates  my  recollection,  though 
I  am  confident  that  he  furnished  important  articles  during 
the  Dorr  War.  The  latter  generally  chose  themes  in 
American  history,  and  especially  in  Rhode  Island  history 
and  in  educational  discussions.  For  thirty  years  he  fur- 
nished the  necrological  sketches  of  the  alumni  of  Brown 
University,  published  in  Commencement  week.  He  also 
wrote  excellent  and  rather  elaborate  obituary  articles  on 
prominent  citizens.  His  writing  was  characterized  by  a 
clear,  dignified,  and  somewhat  stately  style,  formed  on 
his  long  study  of  the  writers  of  Queen  Anne's  time. 

"Dr.  Caswell  furnished  for  many  years  his  meteor- 
ological records,  which  have  since  been  published  by  the 
Smithsonian  Institution.  During  the  border  war  in 
Kansas  I  think  he  wrote  some  spirited  communications 
concerning  the  conflict. 

''During  my  editorship  I  occasionally  persuaded  Pro- 
fessor Diman  to  write  on  the  career  of  some  distinguished 
European  scholar.  I  recall  particularly  his  article  on 
Bunsen  of  Heidelberg,  who  had  much  impressed  him. 
Mr.  Diman  also  furnished  some  excellent  reviews  of  books. 
Rev.  Dr.  S.  L.  Caldwell,  who  was  the  secretary  of  the  cor- 
poration of  Brown  University,  wrote  at  my  request 
numerous  articles  in  his  fresh  and  incisive  style  when  at 
various  times  I  was  called  out  of  town.  After  I  left  the 
Journal  both  Diman  and  Caldwell  wrote  on  Mr.  Daniel- 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER  WRITERS.  65 

son's  invitation.     The  former  was  a  constant  contributor 
for  years.     Their  tastes  led  them  often  to  discuss  matters 
of  Rhode  Island  history,  and  once  to  engage  in  a  sharp, 
though  friendly,  discussion  on  Roger  Williams.     Diman 
wrote  on  a  great  variety  of  topics,  on  many  phases  of 
European   affairs,   on   Gladstone   and   Beaconsfield,   on 
various  questions  of  English  politics,  on  the  overthrow  of 
Napoleon  III  and  the  establishment  of  the  German  em- 
pire, on  public  charities,  and  on  education.     He  furnished 
the  articles  which  it  had  long  been  the  custom  of  the  Jour- 
nal  to   publish   containing   suggestions    and    reflections 
appropriate  to  the  holidays.   Thanksgiving,   Christmas, 
New  Year's,  and  the  college  Commencement.     His  style, 
even  in  his  rapid  writing,  was  singularly  rich  and  flowing. 
His  articles  were  distinguished,  though  not  overburdened, 
by  a  wealth  of  scholarly  allusions  that  lifted  them  above 
the  level  of  most  newspaper  writing.     Yet  they  never  left 
on  the  reader  any  impression  of  pedantry.     They  seemed 
the  natural  utterances  of  a  scholarly  mind.     Characteristic 
extracts  from  them  may  be  found  in  the  Memoirs  of  Mr. 
Diman,  written  by  Miss  Caroline  Hazard,  now  President 
of  Wellesley  College. 

"After  Geo.  W.  Danielson  became  connected  with  the 
Journal,  the  supervision  of  the  business,  of  the  printing, 
of  the  local  reporting,  and  of  the  Bulletin  was  assumed 
by  him.  I  need  not  say  that  he  was  thoroughly  master 
of  the  whole  business  of  making  a  newspaper.  He  and  I 
worked  in  perfect  harmony.  We  agreed  in  our  ideal  of 
a  newspaper.  Perhaps  the  time  has  come  when  there  is 
no  harm  in  saying  that  we  conceived  the  idea  of  pur- 
chasing, if  practicable,  the  Journal  and  publishing  it  as 


66  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

a  non-partisan,  independent  newspaper.  But  Senator 
Anthony,  naturally  enough,  was  unwilling  to  sell.  Mean- 
time the  severity  of  the  work,  in  which  I  had  been  really 
engaged  for  eight  years,  with  only  a  week's  vacation  in 
each  year,  was  beginning  to  affect  my  health.  An  ur- 
gent call  to  return  to  academic  life  by  accepting  the 
presidency  of  the  University  of  Vermont  in  August,  1866, 
led  me  to  part  company  with  the  Journal  and  my  pleasant 
associates  on  its  staff.  But  I  am  glad  to  bear  witness 
that  the  experience  and  training  in  that  strenuous  life 
have  been  of  much  service  to  me  since,  and  that  the  mem- 
ories of  my  co-workers  from  the  compositors  to  the  Senator 
are  among  the  brightest  I  have  cherished. 

"James  B.  Angell." 

Mr.  Angell  lived  on  Angell  street  and  had  to  pass  the 
home  of  his  sister,  Mrs.  J.  H.  Coggeshall,  on  his  way  to 
the  office.  He  was  editor  during  the  exciting  days  of 
the  war,  and  when  he  returned  to  his  home  after  news  of 
some  great  battle  he  would  always  stop  and  ring  the  bell 
and  tell  them  about  it  before  he  went  to  bed.  The  Angell 
family  came  from  Scituate,  R.  I.  His  friends  attribute 
his  long  life  of  activity  to  his  evenness  of  temper.  He 
was  always  sweet  tempered,  and  exercised  restraint  in 
eating  and  drinking.  He  usually  took  a  long  walk  in 
the  morning  for  his  daily  exercise.  A  room  was  fitted 
up  for  him  over  the  stairs  leading  to  the  Journal  office, 
and  there  he  could  write,  uninterrupted  by  conversation, 
except  when  Mr.  Ames  was  speaking,  and  then  he  laid 
down  his  pen  to  listen. 

Soon  after  James  B.  Angell  began  writing  for  the  paper 
Henry  C.  Whitaker  was  encouraged  to  contribute  more 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  67 

regularly  to  the  Journal,  especially  after  the  appearance 
of  Mr.  Whitaker's  articles,  signed  "Rusticus,"  which  he 
dated  from  "Huckleberry  Hollow,"  writing  them  during 
his  residence  in  Clayville,  South  Scituate.  A  graduate 
from  Brown  in  the  class  of  1838,  with  such  eminent  men 
as  Bishop  Alexander  Burgess  of  Illinois,  Charles  S. 
Bradley,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Rhode 
Island,  IMarcus  Morton,  late  Chief  Justice  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Supreme  Court,  James  M.  Clarke,  the  friend 
of  Senator  Anthony,  Congressman  Thomas  A.  Jenckes, 
and  President  Robinson  of  Brown  University,  Mr. 
Whitaker  enjoyed  the  fellowship  of  some  of  the  brightest 
intellects  of  that  generation.  He  was  a  relative  of  Sen- 
ator Anthony,  and  his  first  letters  to  the  paper  were  written 
as  early  as  1849,  although  it  was  not  until  ten  years  later 
that  he  was  recognized  as  the  commercial  editor  of  the 
Journal. 

Although  his  tastes  were  purely  literary  and  poetry  was 
more  to  his  liking  than  finance,  he  made  a  thorough  study 
of  business  questions,  which  had  been  forced  upon  his 
attention  when  he  was  credit  man  for  a  large  dry  goods 
house  in  New  York  city.  He  returned  to  Rhode  Island 
after  the  crash  of  1857.  Thereafter  his  work  came  to 
to  be  a  feature  of  the  paper  for  twenty  years  or  more. 
He  not  only  covered  the  markets,  but  also  prepared 
sketches  of  local  life  and  poetry,  and  the  carriers  found 
him  very  ready  to  respond  to  their  appeals  for  verses 
to  be  used  as  New  Year's  addresses.  While  these  were 
written  without  thought  of  reward,  the  carriers  often 
expressed  their  appreciation  by  some  such  gift  as  an  atlas 
or  a  dictionary. 


68  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

The  work  of  Thomas  Stcere  as  editorial  writer  on  the 
Journal  comes  down  to  a  recent  date,  although  he  was 
early  welcomed  to  the  company  that  enjoyed  Senator 
Anthony's  hospitality.  Mr.  Steere  was  an  *'old  school 
gentleman;"  courtly,  rather  distinguished  in  appearance, 
with  abundant  white  hair,  which  he  allowed  to  fall  loosely 
over  his  head,  while  the  twinkle  of  his  keen  eyes  always 
impressed  a  stranger  on  first  meeting  him.  Mr.  Steere 
was  born  in  1818  and  studied  for  the  bar,  but  did  not 
long  follow  that  profession.  When  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Rhode  Island  Assembly  he  was  the  natural  se- 
lection as  speaker  of  the  House.  In  1854  he  was  ap- 
pointed United  States  Consul  at  Dundee,  Scotland,  by 
President  Pierce,  where  he  served  four  years.  Soon  after 
his  return  from  the  Civil  War  he  became  editor  of  the 
Post,  a  Democratic  newspaper.  He  came  to  the  Journal 
in  1873,  and  wrote  continuously  after  that  until  he  retired 
in  1888.  His  first  work  for  the  Journal  was  the  prepara- 
tion of  articles  on  Rhode  Island  manufacturing,  and  he 
afterward  began  the  articles  on  "Rural  Notes  and  No- 
tions," which  were  a  feature  of  his  work  during  his 
editorial  connection  with  the  paper. 

For  a  year  during  Mr.  Williams's  administration  as 
managing  editor  Charles  J.  Arms  was  an  editorial  writer 
on  the  Journal.  His  contribution  to  the  Boston  Adver- 
tiser on  *'Our  Life  at  Whistledown"  attracted  attention 
to  his  ability,  and  he  came  August  16,  1885.  Mr.  Arms 
at  one  time  served  as  secretary  to  Governor  Hartranft 
of  Pennsylvania. 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  69 

MAKERS    OF   THE   WALL    STREET   JOURNAL. 

John  W.  Barney,  its    Business    Manager,  tells    about    Charles    H.  Dow,  its 
Founder,  and  their  Connection  with  the  Journal. 

John  W.  Barney,  business  manager  of  The  Wall  Street 
Journal,  was  for  some  time  employed  on  the  Providence 
Journal,  where  he  filled  various  positions  and  finally  be- 
came Mr.  Danielson's  "right  hand  man"  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  copy  and  the  revision  of  matter  for  the  paper. 
He  has  written  little  about  himself,  but  most  of  the  fol- 
lowing letter  is  devoted  to  Charles  H.  Dow,  also  a  "grad- 
uate" of  the  Journal,  who  founded  the  Wall  Street  paper: 

"My  earliest  recollection  of  active  work  on  the  Journal 
dates  back  to  the  Washington  Row  office,  in  which  the  two 
figures  which  left  the  strongest  impression  on  my  boyish 
mind  were  those  of  Henry  R.  Davis  and  Charles  J. 
Wheeler.  The  first-named  every  one  who  knows  the 
Journal  knows  and  esteems;  the  latter-named  has  gone 
to  his  reward.  I  was  only  a  carrier  in  the  Washington 
Row  ofiice,  and  did  not  begin  to  entirely  support  myself 
by  newspaper  work  until  after  the  establishment  was 
settled  in  the  Barton  block.  It  was  not  until  years  had 
brought  discernment  and  the  chief  actors  had  passed 
forever  from  sight  that  I  realized  I  had  been  permitted 
to  know  and  to  work  with  representatives,  possibly  the 
last  of  their  line,  of  that  school  of  personal  influence  in 
journalism  of  which  the  elder  Bennett,  Greeley,  Prentice, 
Raymond,   and   Bowles   stood   as  exemplars. 

"The  Journal  of  the  days  of  Anthony  and  Danielson 
was  unique.  Standing  alone,  heedless  of  possible  com- 
petition in  its  rich  field,  it  led  the  sentiment  of  the  com- 


yo  riFTY   YEARS    WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

munity.  In  its  famous  back  room  was  the  seat  of  War- 
wick, the  king-maker.  Its  finger  was  on  the  pulse  of 
public  opinion,  and  if  its  hand  was  not  on  the  helm  of 
legislation,  its  approval  or  disapproval  of  a  measure  was 
alike  significant  and  generally  potent.  In  material  affairs 
advertising  flowed  to  it  as  in  a  natural  channel.  It  never 
employed  an  advertising  solicitor  and  its  absolute  inde- 
pendence of  "  business  "  considerations  cannot,  probably, 
be  duplicated  to-day  in  any  other  community  of  equal 
size. 

''Senator  Anthony  was  to  my  young  mind  the  ideal 
man  of  affairs.  Concerned  with  national  issues,  he  was 
absent  from  the  office  for  long  periods  at  a  time,  and  when 
at  home  he  never  worried  himself  about  details.  His 
editorials,  I  recall,  seemed  so  absolutely  logical  that  I 
wondered  how  his  political  opponents  could  answer  his 
reasoning.  He  always  wrote  with  a  goose-quill,  and  I 
recall  my  profound  satisfaction  with  myself  because  I 
could  generally  read  his  manuscript,  which  was  considered 
to  be  blind. 

"George  W.  Danielson  was  one  of  the  most  lovable 
men  I  ever  knew.  He  was  reserved  in  manner,  save  to 
his  intimate  friends,  was  a  most  considerate  and  appre- 
ciative employer,  and  his  judgment  regarding  matters  of 
public  policy  was  not  to  be  swerved  from  his  conviction 
as  to  the  absolute  right  and  truth  by  considerations  of 
expediency.  He  made  the  first  editorial  column  famous 
for  its  short  editorials,  ranging  from  a  few  lines  to  a  stick- 
ful in  length.  These  were  always  powerful,  piercing  the 
joint  in  the  armor,  but  never  malicious  nor  vindictive. 
It  was  my  good  fortune  to  enjoy  confidential  relations 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  71 

with  Mr.  Danielson,  and  we,  who  knew  him  best,  have 
not  ceased  to  cherish  his  memory  and  regret  his  death. 
"Alfred  M.  Wilhams  was  a  rare  character.     He  had 
the  bearing  of  a  recluse,  the  piercing  glance  of  an  Indian, 
and  the  impressionist  style  of  a  Stevenson.     His  articles 
read  like  a  chapter  from  Balzac.     Let  a  tragedy  bring 
into  prominence  some  evil  resort,  and  Williams's  report 
would,    in   a  few   thumbnail   sketches,   show   the  grisly 
skeleton  underneath  the  roses  and  raptures  of  vice  as 
columns  from  another  pen  would  not  serve  to  reveal  it. 
Simply  as  character  studies  he  maintained  an  acquain- 
tance with  Romany  tribes  whose  language  he  knew  and 
with  a  number  of  persons,  nearer  home,  of  a  class  not 
generally  met  with  in  polite  society.     He  was  equally  at 
home  in  the  records  of  Boxiana  and  in  Gaelic  literature 
and  verse.     His  first  editorial  column  was  also  famous, 
but  his  paragraphs  were  the  thrust  of  the  inscrutable  man 
in  the  velvet  mask,  and  his  rapier  had  no  button  on  it. 

"A  little  more  than  a  year  ago  Charles  H.  Dow  died  in 
New  York.     His  work  left  its  impress  on  the  Journal, 
particularly  in  the  line  of  careful,  painstaking  research, 
in  the  development  of  articles  of  historical  value  and  of 
more  than  ephemeral  life,  and  as  the  precursor  of  the 
special   articles   and   the   special   correspondence  which 
has  come  to  occupy  so  large  a  space  in  the  papers  of  to-day. 
He  came  from  work  with  the  elder  Bowles  on  the  Spring- 
field Republican— an  excellent  school— and  the  manner 
of  his  joining  the  Journal  forces  was  characteristic.     He 
had  been  working  on  another  local  paper  with  results 
not   very    satisfactory.     He    called    on    Mr.    Danielson, 
showed  him  his  string  of  articles  for  a  fortnight,  told 


72  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH    THE   JOURNAL. 

him  what  he  had  received  for  it,  and  asked  for  a  chance  to 
work.  Mr.  Daniclson  said  he  had  nothing  he  could 
give  him  to  do.  Mr.  Dow  said  he  didn't  need  to  be  given 
anything  to  do;  that  he  knew  news,  and  wanted  only 
a  chance  to  go  out  and  get  it  for  the  Journal.  From  that 
time  until  he  left  to  go  to  New  York  his  work  was  a  strong 
feature  of  the  Journal's  columns.  He  would  get  together 
a  page  article,  broken  into  sections  by  double  heads,  of 
great  historical  value,  and  his  less  important  daily  con- 
tributions were  all  along  most  original  lines.  His  history  of 
steam  navigation  on  Long  Island  Sound  was  reprinted 
in  pamphlet  form  by  the  Stonington  Steamship  Company. 
When  at  the  beginning  of  interest  in  the  discovery  of 
the  carbonates  at  Leadville  a  number  of  New  England 
newspapers  united  in  an  investigation  of  the  new  found 
deposits,  Mr.  Dow  was  selected  by  the  persons  identified 
with  the  management  of  the  properties  as  the  best  equipped 
to  write  informingly  about  them,  and  on  their  request  to 
the  editor  of  the  Journal  he  was  assigned  to  this  work. 
"Association  on  that  trip  with  men  of  prominence  in 
the  financial  world  revealed  to  Mr.  Dow  a  field  for  his 
efforts  in  financial  journalism  in  which  he  could  attain 
an  importance  and  usefulness  not  to  be  hoped  for  in  or- 
dinary newspaper  work.  His  financial  reporting  in  New 
York  inaugurated  a  new  era  in  such  w^ork,  that  of  abso- 
lute trustworthiness  and  straightforward  truth.  It  es- 
tablished also  the  basis  upon  which  he  founded  the  finan- 
cial news  service  which  is  known  by  his  name  all  over  the 
English  .speaking  world.  This  service  and  the  great 
daily  financial  newspaper  which  he  established  constitute 
his   true   monument.     In   his   broader  field   he   enjoyed 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  73 

the  friendship  and  confidence  of  the  country's  greatest 
financiers,  and  his  analytical  studies  into  prices  and  values 
have  been  recognized  by  economic  writers  generally,  and 
as  'Dow's  Theory'  are  assigned  due  value  in  their  cal- 
culations." 

THE   LIBERALITY   OF   PROVIDENCE 

Impressed  Carl  W.  Ernst,  who  did  editorial  work  in  this  City. 

Carl  W.  Ernst,  son-in-law  of  ex-Mayor  Hart  of  Boston, 
who  has  filled  several  executive  positions  in  that  city,  was 
once  a  writer  on  the  Journal  and  was  later  connected  with 
the  Providence  Press.  From  this  editorial  writing  he  was 
called  to  Boston  as  a  member  of  the  staff  on  the  Adver- 
tiser, in  December,  1879.  He  began  his  newspaper  work 
here  in  connection  with  preaching,  which  he  has  since 
abandoned.     He  writes: 

"My  first  contribution  to  the  Providence  Journal  ap- 
peared in  1870,  my  last  in  1877,  I  think.  One  fine  morn- 
ing when  things  in  Europe  were  squally,  Mr.  Danielson 
went  out  of  his  way  to  ask  me  whether  I  kept  abreast  of 
European  affairs.  It  was  a  great  question,  entitled  to  a 
great  answer,  which  was  duly  made.  All  he  meant  was 
could  I  write  him  some  suitable  leaders,  and  all  I  meant 
was  that  I  should  be  glad  to  earn  wages. 

"We  got  along  beautifully.  My  articles  were  harmless, 
he  paid  promptly,  and  we  were  both  pleased  when  the 
cable  bore  out  my  predictions.  I  enjoyed  the  utmost 
freedom,  was  never  asked  to  take  sides,  and  received  good 
encouragement  when  asking  once  or  twice  that  my  ar- 
ticles should  be  judged  by  the  event. 


74  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

"With  great  pleasure  and  affection  I  remember  Mr. 
Davis,  of  the  Journal  counting  room,  who  was  as  faithful 
as  Mr.  Danielson  and  sincerely  kind  to  all  sorts  of  callers. 

"Providence  has  been  called  provincial.  My  ex- 
perience, both  in  the  Providence  Journal  and  the  com- 
munity at  large,  does  not  bear  out  the  charge.  On  the 
contrary,  I  never  lived  in  a  city  where  there  was  greater 
freedom  of  thought,  a  finer  liberality  of  living,  than  in 
Providence." 

ANOTHER   FINANCIAL   EDITOR. 
Oliver  B.  Munroe  is  Connected  with  Frank  P.  Bennett's  Publications. 

Oliver  B.  Munroe,  a  graduate  of  Brown  in  the  class  of 
1878,  was  financial  editor  of  the  paper  for  nearly  five 
years  and  wrote  editorials  on  that  subject  as  well  as  cover- 
ing the  markets.  He  familiarized  himself  with  the  details 
in  money  questions  and  closely  followed  the  shifting 
quotations  of  the  markets,  until  his  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject came  to  be  of  considerable  value  to  the  paper.  He  is 
now  connected  with  Frank  P.  Bennett's  financial  pub- 
lications in  Boston.     Mr.  Munroe  writes  as  follows: 

"I  joined  the  Journal  staff  I  think  about  the  close  of 
1884,  having  previously  served  on  the  Providence  Evening 
Press.  After  doing  some  general  work  in  the  way  of  re- 
porting, I  was  given  the  financial  and  commercial  depart- 
ment to  look  after,  which  I  handled  until,  I  believe,  the 
year  1889.  During  that  time  I  wrote  editorials,  also  on 
financial  and  business  topics,  for  the  Journal.  In  those 
times  we  all  worked  pretty  hard  and  I  took  a  hand  at 
almost  everything,  although  my  special  line  was  the  stock 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  75 

market,  merchandise  markets,  and  editorial  writing. 
After  I  left  the  Journal  I  started  in  Providence  The 
Financial  News,  a  semi-weekly  publication,  devoted  to 
local  and  general  financial  interests,  which  afterwards 
became  merged  into  the  Daily  News.  My  connection  with 
it  ceased  in  1890,  in  the  fall  of  which  year  I  came  to  Boston, 
accepting  a  position  of  managing  editor  of  the  American 
Wool  Reporter,  published  by  Frank  P.  Bennett.  With  the 
exception  of  two  or  three  intervals,  when  I  have  been  laid 
off  by  reason  of  sickness,  I  have  been  connected  with  this 
establishment  ever  since,  and  during  my  term  of  service 
here  we  have  started  and  brought  to  a  very  successful 
status  the  United  States  Investor,  a  weekly  financial  paper. 
We  also  publish  a  sheep  paper  and  a  monthly  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  the  clothing  trade.  Of  all  these  publi- 
cations I  am  at  present  the  managing  editor." 

CHARLES   M.    PRYNNE's   MEMORIES. 

He  Participated  in  the  events  connected  with  the  Journal's  Transition  from 
an  Organ  to  an  Independent  Newspaper. 

This  is  the  greeting  sent  from  St.  Louis  by  Charles  M. 
Prynne,  who  was  once  active  in  the  editorial  direction  of 
the  Journal.  He  is  now  well  established  in  business, 
but  his  newspaper  experience  left  many  pleasant  recol- 
lections among  his  associates.     He  says: 

"The  memories  of  eight  happy  years  cluster  around 
my  associations  with  the  Providence  Journal.  Eventful 
years  they  were,  too,  for  the  Journal.  Senator  Anthony 
was  gone;  George  W.  Danielson  was  gone;  and  new  men 
and  to  some  extent  new  policies  were  to  the  fore.     Mr. 


76  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

Howland  had  just  come  into  control  of  the  property  and 
was  the  business  manager;  the  late  Alfred  M.  Williams 
had  been  made  editor-in-chief;  a  Sunday  Journal  was 
about  to  be  started,  to  the  horror  of  the  staid  East  side. 
There  was  newness  everywhere.  The  gentle  face  of  Henry 
Davis,  the  much  beloved,  beamed  then  as  now  across  the 
desk  of  the  counting  room  manager;  the  bustling  "  Mart  " 
Day  (who  was  capable  of  hiding  in  a  furnace  pipe 
rather  than  be  balked  of  a  piece  of  news)  remained  as  city 
editor;  but  in  the  editorial  rooms  the  old  oak  bucket  with 
its  cocoanut  dipper  was  about  the  sole  reminder  of  the 
elder  days. 

"In  the  editorial  writers'  quarters— tucked  away  in  an 
almost  inaccessible  corner  behind  the  paper  rolls — there 
was  only  one  of  us  who  was  not  new  to  the  paper,  and  even 
to  the  State. 

''It  is  not  strange,  I  suppose,  that  we  sometimes  un- 
wittingly touched  with  irreverence  the  sacred  things  of 
traditional  Rhode  Island.  Nor  perhaps  is  it  very  strange 
that  when  Rhode  Island  began  to  awaken  to  the  fact  that 
the  Journal  had  been  changed  from  an  organ  into  a  news- 
paper its  first  impression  was  that  it  did  not  like  it.  We 
were  read  out  of  the  Republican  party  before  very  long — 
formally,  ex  cathedra,  in  State  convention,  with  bell, 
book,  and  candle — the  chief  sitting  in  a  box  and  chuck- 
ling to  himself  as  the  party  orators  thundered  anathema 
at  him  from  the  stage.  If  the  chief  smiled  while  he 
listened,  the  editorial  room  huzzahcd  when  it  heard. 
Politicians  are  foolish  mortals  except  when  fixing  slates 
and  canvassing  wards;  and  if  we  had  previously  bought  a 
few  of  them  they  could  not  have  served  the  Journal  better, 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  77 

nor  better  advertised  to  the  State  and  the  nation  that  it 
was  above  price.  What  we  expected  happened.  That 
excommunication  was  one  of  the  best  things  that  ever 
befell  the  Journal.  Its  circulation  increased  by  leaps 
and  bounds.  It  was  placed  solidly  upon  the  rock;  and 
if  the  politicians  who  that  day  hugged  themselves  in  de- 
light over  their  dear  revenge  will  think  it  over  calmly  now, 
they  will  see  that  another  good  office  they  did  the  Journal 
was  practically  to  kill  then  and  there  what  they  hoped  was 
to  become  a  deadly  rival  to  the  paper. 

"Probably  the  politicians  see  now,  after  so  many  years, 
that,  whether  right  or  wrong,  the  Journal  was  at  any  rate 
honest.  And  that  is  the  chief  and  happiest  remembrance 
I  have  of  the  paper.  It  was  absolutely  fearless,  and  its 
integrity  was  beyond  a  question.  I  know  what  I  say. 
My  duties  probably  brought  me  closer  to  the  management 
than  was  any  other  person,  and  in  all  the  years  of  my  ser- 
vice it  was  never  hinted  to  me,  not  even  by  the  manipu- 
lation of  my  'copy'  that  a  predetermined  course  was  to 
be  taken  upon  any  subject,  irrespective  of  the  facts.  Nor 
did  I  ever  hear  that  any  other  writer  was  hampered.  On 
the  contrary  we  were  made  to  feel  over  and  over  again  that 
the  Journal's  policy  was  to  serve  the  nation,  and  truth 
and  uprightness,  without  trimming  or  trickery  or  thought 
of  self-interest,  but  in  conscientious  devotion  to  public 
duty.  And  I  recall  one  memorable  occasion  (when  the 
paper's  future  as  a  business  enterprise  seemed  to  depend 
upon  the  decision),  the  editorial  writer  detailed  to  de- 
termine a  policy  was  instructed  to  'study  the  question 
without  bias,  thoroughly  and  honestly,  give  a  reason  for 
his  belief,  and  speak  the  truth  without  regard  to  the  paper.' 


yS  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

"No  newspaper  man  needs  be  told  what  it  meant  to 
a  writer  to  labor  under  such  conditions.  Work  was  a 
delight.  But  the  Journal  was  more  than  honest.  It  was 
manly  and  dignified,  and  of  a  literary  excellence  which  if 
not  singular  was  at  least  exceptional;  while  it  was  enter- 
prising to  the  point  of  daring,  without  a  tinge  of  'yellow- 
ness.' The  most  marked  development  of  journalism  in 
the  past  score  years  has  been  that  of  the  Sunday  paper. 
I  like  to  recall  now  that  the  Sunday  Journal  at  the  outset 
in  1885  embraced  all  that  is  best  and  most  distinctive  in 
the  Sunday  newspaper  of  to-day,  and  at  that  time  stood 
absolutely  alone.  The  Journal  was  a  pioneer  in  ncw-s- 
paper  illustration  and  the  first  to  test  many  methods. 
It  was  the  first  to  cut  w^holly  away  from  hand  typesetting, 
and  newspaper  men  came  from  all  over  the  world,  even 
from  far  away  New  Zealand,  to  see  its  wonderful  linotype 
machines.  I  remember  that  we  were  staggered  when 
this  innovation  was  determined  upon  by  Mr.  Rowland, 
and  some  of  us  feared  ruin  was  ahead  when  we  saw  what 
sums  of  money  he  was  willing  to  spend  to  get  the  news. 
How  wise  he  was  was  show-n  w^hen  with  new^  and  im- 
proved presses  and  an  enlarged  stereotyping  plant  w-e  were 
shortly  compelled  to  move  away  from  Turk's  Head  to 
what  was  then  thought  to  be  a  building  big  enough  for  all 
time;  but  which  I  am  glad  to  hear  the  Journal  has  already 
outgrown. 

"The  personal  recollections  of  these  years  are  all  of 
gladness.  There  never  w^re  kinder  chiefs  or  more  com- 
panionable associates.  I  never  heard  an  unpleasant 
word  spoken  by  our  superiors:  there  was  never  a  jarring 
note  to  break  the  perfect  harmony  of  the  writers'  room. 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  79 

Even  the  counting  room  (usually  a  word  of  scorn  to  news- 
paper men)  dwelt  in  cordial  peace  with  the  editorial  room, 
without  meddlesomeness;  and  there  was  not  a  man  in  it, 
from  the  much  loved  Henry  Davis  to  Tommy,  the  office 
boy,  who  was  not  a  dear  good  fellow.  I  love  to  think 
of  the  Journal  men  and  the  Journal  days,  though  they  are 
nearly  a  dozen  years  in  the  past;  and  if  I  were  a  news- 
paper man  again  I  could  wish  nothing  better  for  myself 
than  that  I  might  be  able  to  finish  out  my  life  in  its  service." 

THE   PROVIDENCE   PRESS   CLUB. 

Charles  H.  Howland  Recalls  Festivities  in  which  Journal  men  Participated. 

The  Providence  Press  Club  was  founded  by  Journal 
men,  and  its  inspiration  was  Alfred  M.  Williams.  He 
brought  from  England  the  idea  of  its  beef-steak  suppers, 
and  it  was  his  wit  and  ability  to  enliven  a  dinner  by 
repartee  and  the  raillery  of  its  guests  that  preserved  the  in- 
stitution's distinctive  features.  When  these  were  lost, 
interest  waned  and  the  Press  Club  passed  out,  leaving  a 
trail  of  savory  memories.  Henry  R.  Davis  found  no  little 
enjoyment  in  attending  the  Press  Club  dinners,  where 
newspaper  workers  laid  aside  their  responsibilities  and 
gave  themselves  up  to  social  enjoyment.  Charles  H. 
Howland,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Journal  staff  from 
1884  to  1889,  was  actively  identified  with  the  club  and  he 
has  revived  these  memories  of  the  institution: 

"  The  club  was  an  outcropping  of  Journal  fellowship. 
It  developed  an  atmosphere  of  camaraderie  between  the 
newspaper  worker  and  the  public,  professional,  and  busi- 
ness life  of  the  town  that  was  not  the  less  marked  because 


8o  FIFTY    YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

it  was  unconsciously  wrought.  Originally  designed  to 
give  the  newspaper  men  in  the  local  field  an  occasional 
opportunity  to  drop  shop,  suspend  journalistic  rivalries, 
and  indulge  in  play  together,  it  early  attracted  to  its  hos- 
pitable fold  men  of  many  diverse  activities  who  came  under 
the  spell  of  its  propaganda  of  good  followship. 

''Alfred  M.  Williams  of  the  Journal  staff  was  an  editorial 
writer  when  he  suggested  the  forming  of  the  Press  Club. 
The  prompting  incident  was  a  supper  of  newspaper  men 
and  public  officials  complimentary  to  Manton  H.  Luther 
of  the  Journal  on  his  departure  for  other  fields.  Twenty- 
one  newspaper  men  met  and  organized  on  February  2, 
1883.  Mr.  Williams  was  chosen  president  of  the  club, 
and  served  until  he  declined  a  re-election  for  a  fourth 
term.  He  continued,  however,  to  be  the  inspiring  genius 
of  the  club's  unique  functions  for  many  years  after. 

"Meantime  Mr.  Williams  became  editor-in-chief  of 
the  Journal.  It  was  a  memorable  period  in  the  career 
of  the  newspaper.  In  Rhode  Island,  as  elsewhere,  the 
middle  'eighties  were  a  time  of  newspaper  evolution. 
Politically,  a  shaking  up  was  in  progress  in  public  affairs. 
Many  important  partisan  newspapers  were  undertaking 
the  novel  policy  of  independent  journalism.  Nowhere  did 
the  new  idea  create  more  of  a  disturbance  than  in  Rhode 
Island  when  the  Providence  Journal  cast  loose  from  the 
party  anchorage. 

"Over  the  pipe  and  the  bowl  of  the  Press  Club,  the 
public  men  and  the  inllucntial  citizenship  of  the  city  and 
State  met  the  newspaper  workers  of  the  new  era.  The 
contact  was  mutually  edifying.  Each  found  the  other 
of    human     kind.     Competing    newspaper    men,     rival 


EDITORS   AND    OTHER   WRITERS.  8l 

politicians,  the  man  of  business,  the  lawyer,  the  clergy- 
man, and  the  college  professor,  assembled  at  the  Press 
Club  board,  discovered  in  one  another  an  affinity  un- 
dreamed of  in  ordinary  intercourse  or  customary  con- 
flict. ^ 

''The  supper  fare  was  simple  and  annually  the  same 
—beefsteaks,  big  and  thick,  with  mushrooms,  baked  po- 
tatoes in  their  steaming  jackets,  brown  ale  that  had  rested 
quietly  in  the  wood  for  some  weeks  preceding,  rare  old 
cheeses,  churchwarden  or  corncob  pipes  and  a  hallowed 
mixture  of  tobacco,  perhaps  a  dash  of  cognac  with  the 
coffee,  and  a  feast  of  unreason  to  follow,  the  relish  of 
which  waxed  with  each  succeeding  occasion  and  the 
fame  of  which  expanded  so  that,  from  a  handful  of  grown 
men  at  play  on  the  earlier  Press  Club  nights,  upwards  of 
two  hundred  used  to  gather  and  make  merry  on  the  annual 
occasion. 

'Trom  year  to  year  some  very  bright  men  were  priv- 
ileged to  make  some  very  bright  speeches  to  the  club  and 
its  guests.  Something  of  the  character  of  these  addresses 
may  be  gleaned  from  the  topics  given  out  and  the  names 
of  the  men  who  undertook  to  dispose  of  them.  For  in- 
stance, Hon.  Charles  E.  Gorman  once  ventured  to  ad- 
dress the  gathering  on  'Modesty  as  a  Drawback  to 
Journalism,'  and  William  Goddard  on  'Poverty  as  an  Aid 
to  Journalism.'  The  late  Mayor  Hayward  was  heard 
on  'State  Charities  as  a  Refuge  for  Journalism,'  Rev.  David 
H.  Greer,  on  the  'Debt  of  the  Preacher  to  the  Reporter,' 
Rev.  W.  F.  B.  Jackson,  on  'Baseball  in  Journahsm.'  More 
frequently  the  speakers  of  the  evening  were  called  upon 
without   previous    notification   or   assignment   of   topic; 


82  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

manuscript  was  not  regarded  with  favor,  the  demands 
upon  him  who  was  thus  permitted  to  take  the  time  of  the 
club  were  usually  extreme,  and  their  fulfillment  was  beset 
with  such  obstacles  as  the  imperious  audience  might,  in 
its  mirth,  conjure  up.  A  list  of  those  who,  at  one  time  or 
another,  participated  in  the  club's  stimulating  programme 
would  be  a  directory  of  most  of  the  men  in  the  public  eye 
during  the  dozen  years  or  so  of  these  extraordinary 
gatherings.  On  occasion,  there  were  special  feasts  in 
honor  of  the  stranger  in  town — as  one  to  Alexander  Paul, 
of  the  London  News,  another  to  the  late  Julian  Ralph, 
another  to  Charles  Emory  Smith,  at  the  time  the  leading 
spirit  in  Philadelphia's  famous  Clover  Club.  Lecturers, 
artists,  literary  folk,  musicians,  actors,  statesmen,  and 
other  persons  of  contemporary  distinction  who  visited 
the  town  were  often  entertained  by  the  club  in  its  own 
distinctive  way. 

"That  the  position  of  the  newspaper  worker  in  respect 
to  his  fellow  citizens  in  the  community  is  much  happier, 
much  better  understood,  and  of  higher  repute  than  it 
used  to  be  is  in  no  small  measure  due  to  the  salutary 
influence  exerted  in  his  behalf  by  this  Press  Club.  It  was 
set  forth  in  the  club's  constitution  that  its  principles  were 
'Opposition  to  any  form  of  favor  given  or  received  which 
is  not  demanded  by  the  legitimate  duties  of  the  profession,' 
and  its  motto  'Independence  and  Honor.'  Outside  the 
newspaper  offices,  twenty  years  ago,  those  principles  and 
that  motto  were  not  so  generally  recognized  as  they  are 
to-day." 


EDITORS  AND   OTHER  WRITERS.  83 

HENRY   B.   RUSSELL   OF   SPRINGFIELD. 

His  Coming  to  the  Journal  and  Work  as  an  Editorial  Writer. 

Henry  B.  Russell  of  the  Springfield  Homestead  tells  of 
his  connection  with  the  Journal  as  follows: 

"I  went  there  in  March,  1888,  from  the  New  York  Sun. 
The  late  Julian  Ralph,  then  on  the  Sun  and  also  a  special 
correspondent  for  the  Journal,  one  day  introduced  me  to 
the  late  Alfred  M.  Williams,  who  was  in  the  city  looking  for 
an  editorial  writer.  Never  having  written  any  editorials, 
I  suppose  I  thought  I  should  like  to;  at  any  rate,  after  a 
very  pleasant  dinner  with  Mr.  Williams  at  a  Broadway 
hotel,  I  agreed  to  go.  It  so  happened  that  I  left  New  York 
shortly  before  the  great  blizzard  of  1888  arrived  there,  and, 
as  it  passed  a  little  north  of  Providence,  I,  like  others  there, 
had  only  the  indirect  effects.  At  a  time  when  the  wires 
were  all  down  and  the  trains  were  all  stalled,  so  that  neither 
telegraphic  news  nor  newspapers  reached  the  Journal 
office,  I,  who  had  never  written  an  editorial  in  my  life, 
found  it  incumbent  to  write  them  all  for  a  day  or  two. 

"However,  I  have  some  remarkably  pleasant  recol- 
lections of  Providence  and  the  Journal.  At  the  time  I 
went  there  the  office  was  in  the  old  building  on  Wey- 
bosset  street,  I  believe,  but  the  editorial  writers,  Mr. 
Prynne,  Mr.  Luther,  and  myself,  were  given  more  orna- 
mental quarters  in  an  adjoining  building  where  there  was 
a  library  composed  mainly  of  Congressional  Records. 
As  I  remember  it,  our  usual  procedure  of  a  day  was  at  a 
certain  hour,  about  11  A.  M.,  to  go  down  to  the  office  of 
Mr.  Williams  for  suggestions  that  we  sometimes  got  and 


84  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

more  often  did  not.  I  don't  remember  of  receiving 
many,  for  there  was  a  sort  of  understanding  that  I  could 
take  anything  that  did  not  belong  to  the  other  two. 

"Mr.  Williams  was  a  man  of  peculiar  traits,  and  at  first 
not  easily  understood  by  one  who,  having  first  caught 
the  glint  of  his  rare  intellect  over  the  dinner  table,  as  I  had, 
next  found  him  alarmingly  stiff  and  solemn  in  his  editorial 
chair.  The  more  I  saw  of  him  the  better  I  liked  him. 
It  was  astonishing  what  a  wealth  of  wit  there  was  beneath 
his  grim  demeanor. 

"I  always  made  it  a  point  to  call  on  Mr.  Davis  once  a 
week,  whether  he  returned  the  calls  or  not.  He  always 
had  the  money  ready.  He  was  uniformly  kind  and 
good  natured.  Such  men  live  to  a  good  old  age,  and  they 
ought  to." 

RICHARD  ALDRICH   OF  NEW  YORK. 

He  laid  the  foundation  for  future  success  as  a  writer  when  employed  by  the 

Journal. 

Among  the  "graduates"  of  the  Journal  is  Richard 
Aldrich,  who  took  up  newspaper  work  in  New  York  city 
ten  years  ago  and  has  followed  his  specialty  of  writing  about 
music  until  he  is  now  occupying  an  important  position 
in  charge  of  that  department  on  the  New  York  Times. 
As  his  boyhood  home  was  in  Providence,  his  impressions 
of  life  on  the  paper  are  associated  with  his  school  days 
and  previous  life  in  the  city.  In  his  congratulations  to 
Mr.  Davis  he  says: 

"I  can  hardly  persuade  myself  that  your  typewriter 
has  not  gone  astray  in  putting  down  Mr.  Davis's  service 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  85 

in  the  Journal  office  as  fifty  years.  When  I  was  in  that 
office  a  few  weeks  ago  he  looked  exactly  as  he  did  eighteen 
years  before,  when  I  first  entered  the  Journal's  service — 
just  as  bright  in  the  eye,  just  as  well  and  as  darkly  thatched, 
just  as  active  in  every  movement,  just  as  alert  in  watching 
the  expense  account,  just  as  proud  of  the  Journal,  and  I 
needn't  say  just  as  kindly  and  gracious  in  his  greeting, 
as  he  has  been  for  all  these  years,  which  you  say  are  fifty. 
When  I  went  on  the  Journal's  city  staff,  just  out  of  college, 
it  seemed  to  me  as  if  everybody  had  always  known  Henry 
Davis  as  a  matter  of  course — he  knew  my  father  and  I  came 
into  a  sort  of  inheritance  of  his  friendship.  But  he  didn't 
seem  to  me  very  venerable  then  even ;  and  he  has  been  grow- 
ing steadily  less  so  ever  since.  I  went  upon  the  staff  just 
after  Mr.  Howland  became  manager.  The  Sunday  Jour- 
nal had  just  been  started.  Access  to  the  'back  office'  was 
not  what  it  used  to  be.  There  was  a  new  impulse  in  the 
paper  that  even  a  beginner  could  not  help  feeling;  and 
there  was  a  certain  impression  in  some  quarters  that  there 
had  been  a  revolution  in  Rhode  Island.  I  came  to  Mr. 
Williams  with  a  note  from  my  cousin,  President  James  B. 
Angell,  who  had  been  an  editor  of  the  Journal  under  Gov- 
ernor Anthony.  Mr.  Williams  seemed  to  be  favorably  in- 
clined toward  young  college  graduates.  He  pushed  me 
along  toward  lines  that  he  wanted  developed  on  the  paper. 
He  seemed  to  think  well  of  some  articles  about  the  Provi- 
dence artists  that  I  turned  in  in  the  intervals  of  covering 
the  old  justice  court  in  Canal  street  in  the  morning  and 
what  in  New  York  they  call  police  headquarters  work  at 
night.  I  became  art  editor.  Then  I  undertook  music, 
for  which  I  had  always  had  a  special  taste;   it  had  been 


86  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

previously  done  by  Thomas  H.  McElroy,  when  he  was 
not  holding  down  the  city  and  the  suburban  copy  desk. 
Then  I  was  intrusted  with  the  burden  of  the  dramatic 
editor.  At  times  I  was  financial  editor,  or  seemed  to  be 
acting  as  such,  when  Oliver  Munroe  went  away.  I  edited 
city  copy,  I  reviewed  books,  and  finally  became  an 
editorial  writer.  There  were  periods  when  I  was  more 
different  kinds  of  an  editor  than  I  have  been  during  all 
the  years  that  have  elapsed  since,  in  succession.  I  am 
sorry  that  I  cannot  find  time  to  remember  and  write  down 
incidents  of  those  days.  Very  prominent  in  their  mem- 
ories is  that  of  the  friendly  helpfulness  and  the  kindly 
smile  of  Henry  Davis." 

THE  CITY   EDITORS. 

Manton  H.  Luther  gives  his  recollections  of  the  late  Edward  P.  Tobie. 

Manton  H.  Luther,  who  continues  his  work  as  a  sten- 
ographer, with  an  office  in  the  Opera  House  building  at 
Chicago,  was  a  reporter  on  the  Journal  during  the  decade 
from  1870  to  1880,  and  he  gives  the  following  recollections 
of  the  city  force  of  that  day: 

"Edward  P.  Tobie,  Jr.,  then  city  editor,  was  my  chief 
by  virtue  of  office,  although  as  a  matter  of  fact  his  per- 
sonal relations  with  me,  and  indeed  with  all  who  came 
into  his  department  later,  were  more  the  relations  of  a 
companion  than  of  a  superior  in  command.  He  was  at 
that  time  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  young  manhood,  a  gentle- 
man of  about  thirty  years,  active  and  enthusiastic,  quick 
of  action,  seemingly  doing  things  without  taking  the  least 
fraction  of  a  second  to  think  beforehand.      Moreover, 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER  WRITERS.  87 

Mr.  Tobie  had  the  highest  appreciation  and  respect  for 
even  the  most  insignificant  speck  of  news  that  fell  in  his 
way  or  that  he  had  'chased  down,'  and  knew  how  to  make 
the  most  of  everything  that  promised  an  '  item.'  And  thus 
I  found  him  ever.  But  this  wide-awake  and  up-to-date 
newspaper  man  did  indulge  himself  with  one  old  fogy 
habit.  When  he  wrote  with  a  pen,  it  was  always  a  quill 
pen;  and  when  as  we  started  up  the  stairway  to  the  city 
room  we  heard  the  squeak,  squeak,  squeak  of  Tobie' s 
quill  we  knew  instantly  there  was  something  doing. 
Squeak!  Why,  that  old  goose  quill  fairly  squealed  when 
the  man  behind  it  was  slinging  off  'hot  stuff.' 

"Mr.  Tobie  had  many  warm  personal  friends  who 
visited  him  at  the  office,  especially  among  the  veterans 
of  the  Civil  War  of  whom  he  was  one.  I  could  name 
many,  but  will  only  mention  the  one  of  whom  I  saw  the 
most.  That  was  Capt.  Geo.  H.  Pettis,  whom  we  called 
'Coozy'  Pettis,  the  sobriquet  being  grafted  on  him  by 
reason  of  the  fact  that  he  once  lived  in  Cohoes,  N.  Y., 
from  which  name  it  was  derived,  according  to  current 
tradition. 

"The  only  other  regular  member  of  the  city  staff,  when 
I  joined  it,  was  William  E.  Browne,  a  gentleman  of  whom 
I  have  the  most  pleasant  recollections  and  who  stood  high 
in  the  esteem  of  every  one  who  knew  him.  He  was  in 
habit  of  action  just  the  opposite  of  Mr.  Tobie.  I  can  see 
him  now  in  my  mind's  eye,  sitting  opposite  me  at  the  long 
table,  which  was  in  common  use  in  the  city  room,  calmly 
stroking  his  luxuriant  reddish  brown  beard  with  his  left 
hand  as  he  wrote  with  his  right,  and  at  intervals  of  thirty 
seconds  as  the  clock  ticked  solemly  takmg  a  puff  at  the 


88  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

cigar  which  rested  between  his  teeth.  I  do  not  recollect 
of  once  seeing  him  in  the  least  ruffled  or  discomposed  in 
all  the  years  I  knew  him. 

"So  when  I  joined  the  Journal's  city  staff,  somewhere 
near  the  beginning  of  the  seventies,  it  was  composed  of 
only  three  men  in  regular  service,  namely.  City  Editor 
Tobie,  Mr.  Browne,  and  myself." 

Mr.  Browne  was  for  about  twenty-five  years  a  reporter 
on  the  Journal,  and  during  the  first  years  of  his  work 
there  he  made  a  specialty  of  preparing  the  records  of 
council   meetings   for   publication.     His   brother,  S.  T. 
Browne,  was  the    Journal  carrier  who  was   after^vards 
paymaster  in  the  Navy.     About  the  time  of  his  brother's 
death,  in  1881,  William  E.  Browne  resigned  from  the  paper 
and  lived  in  New  London  until  his  death,  November  12, 
1888.     Edward  P.  Tobie  reported  on  the  Journal  from 
1865  until  his  death,  January  21,  1900,  with  the  exception 
of  a  year  when  he  was  employed  by  the  Telegram.     Until 
1882  he  was  in  the  office,  and  upon  his  return  in  1883  he 
went  to  Pawtuckct,  where  he  was  correspondent  over  six 
years.     Martin  C.  Day  was  the  first  city  editor  given  the 
title  and  a  staff  of  reporters  whom  he  might  organize.     It 
was  natural  therefore  that  the  system  of  making  assign- 
ments should  be  developed  under  his  management,  for 
the  value  of  local  news  was  beginning  to  be  recognized 
and  corresponding  space  was  allowed  for  its  publication 
in  the  columns  of  the  paper. 

During  the  administration  of  Mr.  Day  as  city  editor 
the  famous  Barnaby-Gravcs  poisoning  case  afforded  the 
Journal  an  opportunity  for  enterprise  in  securing  a  special 
report  of  the  trial  of  Dr.  Graves  in  Denver,  Col.     Mrs. 


<j'^^  ' ,: 


^^^P       ^^^?^ 


FORMER    WRITERS    AND    THE    CITY    EDITORS. 


Henry  C.  Whitaker, 
W.  E.  Brown, 
Martin  C.  Day, 


Thomas  Steere, 
Edward  P.  Tobie,' 

J.    J.    ROSENFELD, 


EDITOllS  AND   OTHER  WRITERS.  89 

Barnaby  died  out  there  April  9,  1891,  and  it  was  claimed 
that  the  fatal  result  was  produced  by  drinking  from  a 
bottle  of  poisoned  whiskey  sent  her  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Thatcher  Graves  of  Providence.  Mr.  Day  went  to  Den- 
ver as  a  witness  in  the  trial,  which  he  reported  at  length 
for  the  Journal.  He  afterward  collected  the  reports  in 
a  volume  entitled  "Death  in  the  Mail,"  published  by  the 
Journal  in  1892.  Dr.  Graves  committed  suicide  in  jail 
after  his  conviction.  In  the  accompanying  story  Mr. 
Day  tells  of  the  organization  of  the  Journal's  city  staff 
according  to  modern  methods,  a  task  in  which  he  was 
succeeded  by  the  present  city  editor^  Mr.  Rosenfeld.  Mr. 
Day  says: 

"During  the  interval  of  eighteen  years — 1876-1894 — in 
which  the  writer  performed  service  for  the  Journal  as  re- 
porter and  city  editor,  the  development  of  the  news  depart- 
ment, perhaps,  was  the  most  pronounced  in  the  history  of 
the  paper.  The  local  department  was  in  charge  of  Edward 
P.  Tobie  in  1876.  He  had  been  associated  with  the  paper 
for  several  years,  succeeding  his  service  during  the  Civil 
War  as  adjutant  of  the  ist  Maine  Cavalry,  and  as  foreman 
of  a  job  printing  establishment  in  Lewiston,  Me.  The 
reportorial  staff  consisted  of  the  veteran  William  Browne, 
deceased,  Manton  H.  Luther,  an  expert  stenographer  and 
general  news-gatherer.  The  assignment  book  in  those 
days  contained  the  names  of  several  voluntary  and  sal- 
aried contributors,  not  attached  to  the  regular  staff,  and 
the  reports  were  generally  prepared  after  a  style  which 
had  become  stereotyped  and  voluminous  from  force  of 
habit  and  the  ample  space  which  they  were  permitted 
to  use. 


90  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

"With  such  a  limited  staff  seeking  to  cover  a  city  whose 
population  was  over  100,000,  subject  to  day  and  night 
assignments,  and  frequently  dispatched  to  various  sec- 
tions of  the  State  after  special  news  features,  it  became 
absolutely  imperative  that  they  should  be  what  is  termed 
'  all  round  reporters  '  as  the  paper  had  not  reached  the 
department  stage  and  the  variety  of  news  demanded 
considerable  versatility  and  discrimination  on  the  part 
of  the  writers. 

"Much  of  the  information  was  reported  in  those  days 
to  the  cashier,  Henry  R.  Davis,  both  in  the  counting 
room  and  on  the  street,  and  he  sometimes  sought  news  in 
addition  to  his  other  duties.  He  was  highly  esteemed  in 
the  reportorial  department,  and  the  writer  desires  to  ex- 
press his  appreciation  of  the  frequent  and  unsolicited 
acts  of  kindness  from  Mr.  Davis. 

"The  Journal,  keeping  pace  with  the  development  of  the 
press  in  the  country  in  catering  to  the  demands  of  its  sub- 
scribers for  variety  and  quantity  and  quality  of  news 
matter,  promptly  augmented  its  local  reportorial  depart- 
ment and  also  established  an  elaborate  suburban  service. 
The  staff  of  reporters  was  selected  with  care,  and  from 
time  to  time  there  were  numbered  in  their  ranks  graduates 
of  New  England  colleges  and  men  who  had  had  experi- 
ence in  metropolitan  journalism.  The  paper  entered 
into  active  competition  with  special  correspondents  of 
the  leading  daily  publications  sent  to  the  local  field  to 
cover  important  events,  and  sent  trained  men  outside  its 
home  jurisdiction  to  furnish  special  reports  of  happenings 
of  interest  to  its  Rhode  Island  constituency. 

"On  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  250th  an- 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER  WRITERS.  9 1 

niversary  of  the  founding  of  the  city  of  Providence  it 
issued  a  thirty-six-page  paper,  amply  illustrated  by  its 
own  artists,  and  covered  the  anniversary  programme  of 
those  days  with  such  completeness  and  merit  that  it  re- 
ceived much  complimentary  criticism  from  the  press. 

"In  the  early  stages  of  the  Sunday  Journal  the  ma- 
jority of  the  special  illustrated  articles  were  prepared  by 
the  regular  staff  in  addition  to  their  daily  routine,  which 
necessitated  frequent  burning  of  the  '  midnight  oil.'  The 
city  editor,  with  a  limited  force,  was  compelled  very  fre- 
quently to  assign  himself  to  sundry  events,  and  the  spirit 
of  loyalty  and  consideration,  which  has  always  been  a 
conspicuous  element  in  the  local  news  department, 
dominated  the  force." 

Among  the  Journal  "graduates"  is  George  A.  Stock- 
well,  late  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture. 
After  his  graduation  from  Brown  he  was  for  a  short  time 
on  the  Boston  Advertiser.  He  came  to  the  Journal  in 
1879  and  remained  until  1883,  and  he  had  charge  of  the 
market  reports  during  much  of  that  period.  He  origi- 
nated rather  a  novel  way  of  calling  attention  to  the  features 
each  day  in  the  local  market,  for  he  would  begm  or  end 
his  articles  with  the  announcement  of  seasonable  fruit  or 
vegetables  sometimes  in  two  or  three  short  words  or  by 
the  mere  mention  of  the  prevailing  price. 

Henry  Mann  made  a  study  of  sewerage  and  sewage 
problems  when  that  subject  was  excitmg  considerable 
interest  in  Providence,  and  he  also  wrote  a  book  on  the 
history  of  the  local  police  department,  recounting  the 
brave  deeds  of  officers. 

Allen  B.  Lincoln,  a  Yale  graduate,  was  for  a  short  time 


92  FIFTY   YEARS    WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

editorial  writer  on  the  Journal.  He  came  to  Providence 
from  Hartford,  and  was  afterwards  actively  identified 
with   the   Prohibitionist   cause. 

Arthur  F.  Bowers,  long  city  editor  on  the  New  York 
Tribune  and  the  sporting  authority  on  tliat  newspaper, 
did  some  of  his  early  work  on  the  Journal. 

The  late  E.  M.  Arnold,  who  did  marine  reporting  when 
connected  with  the  local  custom  house,  will  be  remembered 
as  a  one  armed  man,  who  was  a  familiar  figure  on  the 
street. 

The  late  Edwin  R.  Gardiner  was  a  shorthand  writer 
who  did  general  reporting.  To  the  average  observer  he 
seemed  listless  and  sleepy  when  filling  an  assignment, 
but  when  a  matter  of  importance  came  up  he  was  on  the 
alert  in  a  moment,  so  the  resulting  work  was  conscientious 
and  thorough. 

John  C.  Dyer,  the  sporting  and  yachting  authority, 
is  dead.  He  enjoyed  life  while  it  lasted,  and  his  specialty 
brought  him  such  recognition  as  an  election  to  secretary- 
ship of  the  kennel  club. 

Walter  J.  Lord  was  drowned  in  the  Pawtuxet,  Frank 
Purinton  died  in  a  retreat,  and  James  E.  Hanrahan,  who 
started  a  column  of  Catholic  news  which  became  a  feature 
of  the  paper,  fell  a  victim  to  consumption. 

Fred  L.  C.  Keating  became  an  attorney  in  New  York 
city,  George  Farncll  studied  law  and  has  an  office  in  the 
Industrial  Trust  building,  and  George  F.  McKinnon  is 
clerk  in  the  sixth  district  court,  with  office  in  the  old 
State  House  building. 

Among  those  who  have  secured  political  positions  are 
Samuel  Gee,  secretary  of  the  police  commission  in  Provi- 


EDITORS  AND  OTHER  WRITERS.  93 

dence;  Charles  Hervey,  who  held  office  with  the  New 
York  city  government  until  Tammany  came  into  power; 
Charles  H.  Rowland,  who  is  recording  clerk  of  the  House 
in  the  Rhode  Island  Assembly;  Richard  W.  Jennings, 
who  is  secretary  of  the  Rhode  Island  State  returning  board ; 
George  H.  Pettis,  who  is  State  sealer  of  weights  and 
measures;  Charles  H.  Pierce,  inspector  of  drains;  and 
Nathan  M.  Wright,  who  is  secretary  of  the  Republican 
State  central  committee. 

Mr.  Pettis  was  marine  reporter  when  he  went  to  the 
Grand  Army  convention  ot  1886  in  California  and  re- 
newed the  scenes  of  his  youth  in  that  vicinity.  He  once 
set  type  on  the  San  Francisco  Call  when  Bret  Harte  was 
connected  with  the  Golden  Era,  published  in  the  same 
building.  He  was  thus  familiar  with  the  early  California 
miners,  about  whom  he  has  written  much  for  the  Journal 
and  other  new^spapers. 

Nathan  M.  Wright  joined  the  Journal  staff  in  1890 
and  in  1893  became  secretary  to  the  publisher,  a  position 
he  held  for  ten  years.  He  edited  the  annual  Journal 
almanac  a  number  of  years. 

Virgil  Blackinton  is  now  with  the  Attleboro  Sun, 
Charles  E.  Lincoln  is  Providence  correspondent  for  the 
Boston  Herald,  Thomas  H.  McElroy  is  editor  of  the 
Providence  News,  Edward  E.  Frost  went  to  the  Sunday 
Telegram,  Clifford  P.  Shattuck,  who  started  the  Journal's 
bowling  reports,  is  on  the  Pawtucket  Times. 

Fred  A.  Austin,  who  followed  the  Rhode  Island  sol- 
diers to  camp  as  correspondent  of  the  Journal  during  the 
war  with  Spain,  is  now  on  the  New  York  Tribune; 
Franklin  Clarkin  holds  an  important  place  on  the  New 


94  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

York  Evening  Post,  Charles  A.  Selden  is  on  the  New  York 
Sun;  Lewis  R.  South  worth  on  the  New  York  World; 
Edward  B.  ISIorse  on  the  Telegram,  the  evening  edition 
of  the  New  York  Herald;  Fred  Ladd  has  been  writing 
jokes  for  the  humorous  papers,  and  Henry  C.  Salandri, 
who  came  to  America  with  the  Italian  delegation  to  the 
Philadelphia  centennial  in  1876,  is  on  the  Worcester 
Telegram. 

Andrew  Adams  sought  his  fortune  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands  when  they  were  annexed  to  the  United  States, 
and  William  H.  Burt,  who  was  correspondent  while 
serving  in  the  Philippines,  is  now  lieutenant  in  the  United 
States  artillery. 

Professor  Stephen  S.  Colvin,  now  teaching  at  Brown, 
was  once  reporter  for  the  Journal,  as  was  his  wife,  who 
was  Miss  Eva  Collins  when  she  was  so  employed. 

S.  James  Foster  made  a  specialty  of  bicycle  news. 
He  is  with  Weeden    &  Co.,  brokers. 

Charles  J.  Lincoln  is  engaged  in  shipbuilding  on  the 
Pacific  coast. 

Andrew  J.  McConico,  a  Brown  graduate,  became  a 
Pullman  car  conductor  after  he  left  the  Journal,  and  W. 
Cary  Sheppard  entered  the  Episcopal  ministry  and  is  a 
rector   in   Vancouver,   Washington. 

Henry  B.  Slade  is  a  chemist,  and  was  once  connected 
with  the  milk  inspection  department  in  City  Hall. 

Thomas  W.  Williams  has  been  a  member  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts legislature,  but  he  keeps  up  newspaper  work, 
for  he  edited  the  wireless  daily  published  by  the  Journal 
on  Block  Island  last  summer. 

Dr.  Arthur  McGinn,  who  is  now  practicing  medicine 


EDITORS   AND    OTHER    WRITERS.  95 

in  Providence,  once   reported    Catholic    news    for    the 
Journal. 

AN    EXPERIENCE   AND   ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

The  Benefit  Mr.  Hamm  Obtained  from  his  Experience   in  the  Composing 
Room.     His  Tribute  to  Mr.  Danielson. 

Walter  C.  Hamm,  who  was  recently  appointed  United 
States  Consul  at  Hull,  England,  found  employment  in 
the  Journal  office  while  attending  Brown  University, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1870.  He  has 
been  employed  on  the  New  York  Tribune  and  the  Phil- 
adelphia Press.  Since  his  appointment  he  has  remem- 
bered his  Alma  Mater  by  presenting  the  library  with  a 
valuable  collection  of  newspaper  clippings  which  he  made 
during  his  work  on  the  Philadelphia  Press.  His  picture 
of  the  conditions  prevailing  here  and  his  entrance  to  the 
office  is  herewith  given: 

"My  connection  with  the  Providence  Journal  came 
about  in  this  way:  In  September,  1866,  I  entered  the 
Freshman  class  of  Brown  University  with  the  intention  of 
taking  the  regular  classical  course  of  four  years.  ^  As  I 
knew  that  I  must  pay  my  own  way  through  college,  my 
first  thought  after  matriculation  was  to  look  about  for 
some  way  of  earning  money  during  my  spare  hours.  I  had 
fixed  upon  journalism  as  the  profession  I  hoped  to  follow, 
and  the  idea  occurred  to  me  that  if  I  could  learn  the 
printer's  trade  it  would  give  me  an  opportunity  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  practical  side  of  the  career  I  had 
chosen,  and  at  the  same  time  enable  me  to  earn  some 
of  the  money  necessary  to  pay  my  college  expenses. 


g6  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

"I  laid  my  case  before  Dr.  Barnas  Sears,  who  was 
then  President  of  Brown  University,  and  in  that  broad 
sympathy  which  was  one  of  the  strongest  traits  of  his 
noble  character,  he  at  once  offered  to  do  anything  he 
could  to  aid  me.  He  proposed  that  I  should  go  with  him 
to  the  office  of  the  Providence  Journal  where  he  would 
introduce  me  to  the  editor  and  if  possible  help  me  to  make 
some  such  an  arrangement  as  I  desired.  And  at  the 
appointed  time  we  walked  down  College  Hill  together 
and  across  ]Market  square  to  the  Journal  ofiQce,  which  was 
then  in  the  Washington  Insurance  Company's  building, 
facing  the  outlet  of  the  old  cove. 

''The  events  of  that  forenoon  will  never  fade  from  my 
memory.  I  was  as  unsophisticated  a  youth,  probably, 
as  ever  entered  college.  I  had  come  fresh  from  my 
father's  farm  in  New  York  State,  and  although  that  was 
situated  not  far  from  two  inland  cities,  my  habits  had  been 
so  quiet  and  studious  that  I  had  been  brought  but  little 
in  contact  with  practical  life.  Besides  I  had  never  been 
inside  of  a  newspaper  oflice,  knew  nothing  of  a  printer's 
'  case '  and  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  routine  of  a  print- 
ing establishment.  Most  anyone  can  imagine  the  broad 
charity  needed  to  admit  such  a  youth  to  a  newspaper 
office  and  give  him  the  opportunity  to  learn  the  mys- 
teries of  typesetting  and  at  the  same  time  earn  some 
money. 

''But  broad  as  was  the  charity  and  patience  needed,  I 
quickly  found  that  it  existed  under  the  quiet,  self-contained 
exterior  of  the  late  George  W.  Daniclson,  then  managing 
editor  of  the  Journal.  He  at  once  ai)])rehended  the  sit- 
uation, placed  me  at  my  ease  in  conversation,  and  opened 


EDITORS   AND  OTHER  WRITERS.  97 

the  way  for  me  to  reach  my  object.  A  printer's  case  was 
put  at  my  disposal,  and  he  himself  offered  to  initiate  me 
into  the  mysteries  of  the  old  style  of  typesetting.  At 
the  same  time  he  gave  me  liberty  to  come  and  go  as  my 
duties  at  the  college  permitted.  And  for  four  years  I 
went  in  and  out  of  the  Journal  office,  spending  every 
hour  there  I  could  take  from  my  studies,  and  sometimes 
more  perhaps  than  I  ought. 

"Those  were  the  days  of  hand  typesetting.  I  soon 
found  out  that  I  could  never  become  an  expert  at  the 
trade.  My  eye  was  not  ready  enough,  and  my  hand  never 
acquired  the  art  of  picking  up  the  type  quickly.  And  had 
it  not  been  for  the  strain  of  Dutch  perseverance  that  came 
to  me  from  my  father  I  doubt  if  I  should  have  persisted. 
But  my  desire  for  a  college  education  and  the  need  of 
paying  my  own  way  kept  me  down  to  the  work;  and  at 
last  the  stern  task  was  done ;  my  graduation  paper  was  in 
my  hands  and  I  could  leave  college,  if  not  with  honors, 
at  least  with  credit. 

"I  have  often  wondered  since  how  the  patience  of  Mr. 
Danielson  could  have  held  out  during  those  four  years. 
I  must  have  tried  him  often.  If  regularity  is  needed 
anywhere  it  is  in  a  newspaper  office,  and  yet  I  was  per- 
mitted to  come  and  go  as  I  wished,  to  set  a  small  or  large 
amount  of  type,  and  as  soon  as  I  could  finish  my  copy  I 
was  paid  regular  printer's  rates.  Such  an  arrangement 
was  unusually  advantageous  to  me,  and  the  willingness 
of  Mr.  Danielson  to  grant  such  terms  shows  his  kindly 
nature  in  its  best  light.  He  never  lost  his  interest  in  me. 
Whenever  in  after  years  I  went  to  Providence  and  called 
at  the  Journal  office  he  was  always  eager  to  hear  of  my 


gS  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

success  and  to  give  me  advice.  To  the  end  he  numbered 
me  among  the  Journal  '  boys.'  Perhaps  he  never  knew 
how  profoundly  he  had  affected  my  after-life.  I  have 
always  regretted  that  the  sudden  and  all  too  early  end  of 
his  life  prevented  my  making  known  to  him  the  obligations 
under  which  I  stood.  I  have  often  washed  also  for  an 
opportunity  to  pay  my  tribute  to  his  character. 

"My  services  on  the  Journal  taught  me  some  valuable 
lessons.  One  of  them  was  the  need  of  being  careful 
in  the  preparation  of  copy  for  the  printer.  In  those  days 
the  professors  at  the  college  and  the  best  known  min- 
isters in  the  Providence  pulpits  were  frequent  contrib- 
utors to  the  Journal.  They  helped  it  to  maintain  a 
high  standard  of  literary  merit  on  its  editorial  page  and 
in  its  correspondence.  But  their  manuscript  w^as  often 
a  crucifixion  to  the  printer.  I  have  seen  experienced 
typesetters  sit  down  in  despair  after  an  unavailable  at- 
tempt to  decipher  a  page  of  the  late  Professor  Diman's 
copy.  Professor  Gammell's  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Caldwell's 
penmanship  was  a  shade  better.  But  the  copy  of  the 
Rev.  Augustus  Woodbury,  who  then  occupied  the  pulpit 
of  the  Westminster  Congregational  Church,  w^as  a  prize 
eagerly  sought  after  by  every  typesetter.  It  was  as  clear 
as  print.  And  when  I  saw  a  printer  losing  valuable  time 
in  trying  to  decipher  badly  written  manuscript,  and  knew 
that  his  daily  wage  depended  upon  the  amount  of  type  he 
set,  I  readily  recognized  the  value  of  clearly  written  manu- 
script to  a  printer.  I  carried  this  lesson  w'ith  me,  and  I 
am  glad  to  say  it  was  rare  indeed  that  a  printer  had  to 
lose  time  in  deciphering  a  slovenly  written  line  in  my  copy. 

"I  formed  some  friendshii)s  in  the  Journal  office  which 


EDITORS   AND   OTHER   WRITERS.  99 

I  have  always  cherished.  One  of  them  was  with  William 
Danielson,  brother  of  the  editor,  who  was  kindness  itself 
in  guiding  my  hand  through  many  of  the  difficulties  of 
learning  the  printer's  trade.  Another  is  with  Henry  Davis. 
I  well  remember  the  keen  but  kindly  look  he  gave  me  as 
I  passed  through  the  counting  room  of  the  Journal  the 
first  time  in  company  with  Dr.  Sears  on  our  way  to  the 
little  room  over  the  stairway  which  Mr.  Danielson  used 
as  his  sanctum.  The  courtesy  with  which  Mr.  Davis 
invariably  treated  me  afterwards  was  an  encouragement 
which  helped  me  over  some  rough  places  in  those  years. 
I  do  not  suppose  he  made  any  exception  in  my  case,  his 
demeanor  towards  me  being  only  the  natural  expression 
of  his  cheerful,  healthful  temperament.  In  my  career 
since  I  have  met  no  one  who  combined  more  of  the  ur- 
banity of  the  true  gentlemen  with  business  capacity  than 
does  Henry  Davis.  And  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  he 
is  still  with  the  Journal,  and  is  about  finishing  a  half- 
century  in  its  service." 


CHAPTER  V. 
CONTRIBUTORS  AND  CORRESPONDENTS. 

The  Brown  University  Professors  who  Contributed  of 
Their  Special  Information. — Women  who  Wrote  Poems 
or  Letters  of  Travel. — The  Washington  Correspond- 
ents. 


CONTRIBUTORS  AND  CORRESPONDENTS. 

The  editorial  force  of  the  modern  newspaper  considers 
itself  sufficiently  equipped  to  deal  intelligently  with  the 
subjects  that  ordinarily  arise  for  discussion,  but  in  the 
days  when  one  man  had  to  do  most  of  the  writing  it  was 
necessary  to  invite  outside  aid  if  prompt  comment  was 
attempted  on  all  current  events.     It  has  been  the  policy 
of  the  Journal  to  discuss  subjects  as  the  news  of  the  day 
called  attention  to  them,  and  as  far  as  possible  to  have  the 
comment   accurate   as   well   as   timely.     No   doubt   the 
Journal  reader  has  had  occasion  to  wonder  sometimes  how 
the  editor  could  have  such  intimate  knowledge  about  a 
prominent  man  as  was  shown  in  the  obituary  published 
of  him  the  morning  after  he  died,  when  the  character- 
ization had  been  prepared  by  some  college  professor  who 
had  made  a  special  study  of  the  person  in  his  regular 
department  work.     While  Senator  Anthony's  experience 
in  the  city  enabled  him  to  know  pretty  well  where  the 
proper  authority  could  be  found  to  write  on  each  question, 
it  was  Mr.  Danielson  who  developed  this  reserve  force  to 
a  system  until  he  could  in  an  emergency  send  a  message 
as  late  as  midnight  and  find  the  writer  needed. 

Brown  University  has  had  an  important  part  in  the 
editorial  conduct  of  the  Journal,  for  not  only  have  many 
of  the  editors  graduated  from  that  institution,  but  Brown 
professors  have  frequently  been  called  on  for  contributions 
or  have  offered  them  voluntarily.     Senator  Anthony  was 


104  FIFTY   YEARS    WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

graduated  from  Brown  in  i8t,^,  Iltnry  C.  Whitakcr  re- 
ceived his  degree  there  in  1838  and  James  B.  Angell  in 
1849,  while  Richard  S.  Rowland,  the  ])resent  editor  and 
manager,  took  his  Bachelor  of  Arts  degree  from  Brown 
in  1868.  Alfred  M.  \\'illiams  spent  two  years  there  in 
boyhood  and  in  1883  received  an  honorary  degree  from 
Brown,  as  did  Frederick  Roy  Martin  in  1902,  while  the 
first  reporters  were  often  students  who  were  called  on 
when  needed,  while  their  instructors  prepared  many  of 
the  editorial  articles. 

Rev.  Dr.  Barnas  Sears,  President  of  the  college  from 
1855  to  1867,  occasionally  contributed  to  the  Journal 
during  his  term  of  office.  His  knowledge  of  the  English 
language  was  so  thorough  and  his  use  of  words  so  dis- 
criminating that  he  had  been  selected  to  edit  Roget's 
Thesaurus  of  Synonyms;  he  might  therefore  be  considered 
one  of  the  most  careful  writers  of  the  day.  Dr.  Alexis 
Caswell,  President  of  Brown  from  1868  to  1872,  had  made 
meteorological  observations  in  Providence  for  over  forty- 
five  years,  and  much  of  that  time  he  reported  weather 
features  for  the  Journal  every  month,  dating  his  contri- 
butions from  "College  Plill."  His  son-in-law.  President 
Angell,  has  referred  to  the  importance  of  the  data  he 
collected.  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Caldwell,  who  was 
President  of  Vassar  College  from  1878  to  1885,  had  been 
pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  in  Providence  for 
fifteen  years;  he  returned  to  the  city  with  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  its  institutions  and  was  able  to  render 
valuable  aid  to  the  editorial  force. 

During  his  connection  with  the  college  for  thirty-two 
years.  Professor  William  Gammell  was  a  frequent  con- 


<?•  \ 


CONTRIBUTORS    FROM     BROWN    UNIVERSITY. 


William  Gammell, 
Reuben  A.  Guild, 
WiNSLOw  Upton, 


J.  Lewis  Diman, 
Alonzo  Williams, 
W.  W.  Bailey. 


CONTRIBUTORS  AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  105 

tributor  to  the  Journal,  furnishing  editorial  articles, 
obituaries,  and  literary  discussions.  Professor  John  L. 
Lincoln  generally  wrote  on  art  subjects.  Professor  J. 
Lewis  Diman,  who  had  the  chair  of  history  and  political 
economy  at  Brown,  probably  contributed  as  much  as 
Professor  Gammell,  and  he  covered  a  wide  range  of  sub- 
jects, although  he  was  most  frequently  asked  to  comment 
on  European  politics.  He  was  graduated  in  the  class  of 
1851,  and  when  he  died,  thirty  years  later,  the  Journal 
paid  an  appreciative  tribute  to  his  work,  in  which  it  said : 

*'0n  great  occasions,  when  we  were  called  upon  to 
revive  the  memories  of  the  past  or  to  be  informed  in  re- 
spect to  current  events,  it  was  to  Professor  Diman  that 
we  instinctively  turned  as  the  man  best  fitted  for  the  work. 
Of  late  years  it  has  seemed  as  though  no  event  in  the 
records  of  Rhode  Island  could  be  duly  commemorated 
unless  he  was  willing  to  tell  the  story  or  '  adorn  the  tale.' 
He  was  distinguished  abroad  as  well  as  at  home,  not 
only  as  a  consummate  master  of  history,  but  also  as  one 
of  the  profoundest  thinkers  of  the  day.  ***** 
There  was  hardly  any  class  of  subjects  which  he  was  not 
competent  to  handle.  He  had  read  a  great  deal  and  care- 
fully digested  all  he  read.  His  resources  were  always 
at  command,  his  thought  never  lacked  utterance;  his 
style  was  compact,  clear  as  crystal,  and  adorned  with 
chaste  and  apposite  illustration.  He  used  no  superfluous 
words,  yet  he  never  failed  to  make  himself  intelligible, 
no  matter  how  recondite  the  subject  he  treated." 

Rev.  John  C.  Stockbridge,  who  was  for  a  time  regis- 
trar of  the  college,  was  able  to  serve  the  Journal  with  facts 
connected   with   the   institution;   and   Reuben  A.  Guild 


Io6  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

was  especially  useful  when  he  was  librarian,  for  he  did 
not  confine  himself  to  the  college,  but  wrote  on  historical 
subjects  and  contributed  local  obituaries.     When  large 
religious  conventions,  like  the  American  Board  meeting, 
were  held  in  Providence,  entire  oversight  of  the  work  of 
reporting  them  was  often  given  him.     He  also  prepared 
the  annual  necrology  list  of  Brown  alumni,  which  is  pub- 
lished about  Commencement  time,  a  task  which  since  his 
death  has  been  taken  up  by  Professor  W.  C.  Poland.    The 
work  of  Dr.  Guild  was  more  in  the  way  of  patient  re- 
search than  original  thought,  but  it  was  none  the  less 
serviceable  to  the  paper.     The  contributions  from  Pro- 
fessor T.  W.   Bancroft  were  purely  literary,  consisting 
largely  of  poetry.     Professor  Alonzo  Williams,  who  was 
graduated  in  1870,  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  taking  long 
bicycle  tours  as  a  recreation.     His  letters  from  Europe 
as    "Ixion,"    while    traveling    in    foreign    lands    on    a 
wheel,  were  a  novelty  at  that  time.     He  was  a  brilliant 
scholar,    whose    untimely    death    was    much    mourned. 
For  forty  years  Professor  William  Whitman  Bailey  has 
told  the  Journal  readers  about  the  common  flowers  that 
may  be  found   each  season   in  this  vicinity.     Amateur 
botanists  who   search  for  the  earliest  unfolding  of    the 
petals  in  the  spring   have  usually  found  that  Professor 
Bailey  had  discovered  them  first,  but  he  is  a  generous 
lover  of  nature  and  shares  his  knowledge  of  their  hiding 
places  w^ith  those  who  are  enough  interested  to  follow  his 
directions.     Among    the    first    popular    articles    on    as- 
tronomy to  appear  in  any  daily  paper  were  those  prepared 
by  Miss  Emma  M.  Converse  for  the  Journal.     They  were 
so  readable  that  exchanges  copied  them  or  soon  started 


CONTRIBUTORS   AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  107 

similar  columns  of  their  own.  She  was  succeeded  in 
this  work  by  Professor  Winslow  Upton  of  Brown,  who 
with  the  resources  of  the  college  and  its  astronomical 
apparatus  is  able  to  deal  with  the  subject  more  scientific- 
ally; but  it  would  be  difficult  to  improve  on  Miss  Con- 
verse's attractive  way  of  presenting  the  subject,  which 
encouraged  attention  to  the  study  of  the  skies. 

Besides  Brown  professors,  probably  the  largest  class  of 
contributors  to  the  Journal  have  been  the  clergymen,  for 
the  local  pastors  have  generally  been  interested  in  so- 
ciological subjects  or  in  the  new  books  which  they  were 
asked  to  review.     The  co-operation  of  the  late  Bishop 
Clark  was  always  available  in  good  causes,  and  he  wrote 
about  the  Sanitary  Commission,  in  which  he  took  such 
an   active   part   during   the   Civil  War.     Rev.   Frederic 
Denison,   Brown,    1847,   served  as  chaplain  during  the 
Civil  War,  and  thus  became  identified  with  the  soldiers 
about   whom    he    frequently   wrote.     He    also    made    a 
specialty  of  local  history,  and  was  well  prepared  to  furnish 
material  for  dealing  with  early  life  in  Rhode  Island  when 
attempts   were   made    to   preserve   such    landmarks   as 
Indian  burying  grounds.     The  muse  also  attracted  Mr. 
Denison,  who    frequently   wrote   verse    for    the    paper. 
Rev.  Edwin  M.  Stone,  a  Unitarian  minister,  frequently 
wrote  for  the  paper.     He  prepared  the  pamphlet  in  1870 
to  celebrate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  paper,  and  he 
contributed  articles  to  its  columns  on  various  subjects. 
An  arrangement  was  made  with  Rev.  J.  J.  Woolley  to 
write  every  week  an  article  on  the  Sunday  school  lesson 
for  the  following  Sunday,  which  was  published  Saturday 
mornings.     Some  of  the  best  book  reviews  ever  written 


Io8  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH  THE   JOURNAL. 

for  the  Journal  were  those  prepared  by  Rev.  Dr.  C.  A.  L. 
Richards  of  St.  John's  Church,  and  Rev.  W.  F.  B.  Jackson 
has  done  work  of  a  similar  nature.  Mr.  Jackson  also 
did  newspaper  work  in  the  office  during  Mr.  Daniel- 
son's  time,  and  when  he  went  abroad  in  the  8o's  he  wrote 
letters  from  Dresden,  Rome,  and  Berlin.  He  has  done 
much  editorial  writing,  especially  for  such  anniversaries 
as  Christmas,  and  contributed  his  twelfth  article  on  this 
festival  last  year. 

When  the  Sunday  edition  of  the  Journal  was  started 
there  was  prejudice  shown  at  first  against  its  publication 
by  church  people,  and  the  Sunday  "sermon,"  which  was 
preached  in  the  editorial  column  by  Rev.  Hamilton  M. 
Bartlett,  assistant  to  Rev.  Dr.  Greer  of  Grace  Church, 
did  much  to  overcome  this  sentiment.  Mr.  Bartlett  wrote 
this  with  the  cordial  approval  of  his  rector,  and  he  after- 
wards gave  a  fresh  illustration  of  his  liberal  spirit  and 
devotion  to  religion  by  resigning  the  charge  of  a  wealthy 
parish  and  going  as  missionary  to  North  Yakima,  Wash. 
There  was  hardly  a  philanthropic  question  before  the 
people  that  Rev.  Dr.  E.  B.  Hall  did  not  feel  called  upon  to 
promote  by  an  appeal  when  he  was  pastor  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church  on  Benefit  street,  and  Rev.  C.  A. 
Staples  did  similar  work.  Rev.  Dr;  Heman  Lincoln, 
pastor  of  the  Central  Baptist  Church,  was  called  upon 
sometimes  for  editorials;  and  Rev.  S.  H.  Webb,  a  retired 
Episcopal  clergyman,  who  had  been  the  friend  of  every 
good  cause,  was  always  glad  to  use  the  columns  of  the 
paper  to  advocate  measures  for  helping  people.  Rev. 
Augustus  Woodbury,  eulogist  at  the  funerals  of  Senator 
Anthony  and  Air.  Danielson,  also  wrote  occasionally,  as 


CONTRIBUTORS   AND   CORRESPONDENTS. 


109 


did  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  R.  Slicer.  Rev.  C.  C.  Beaman, 
whose  son  became  the  law  partner  of  Senator  Evarts, 
was  the  author  of  sketches  from  Scituate,  which  after- 
ward appeared  in  book  form.  Rev.  H.  W.  Conant,  agent 
of  the  State  Temperance  Society,  contributed  articles  on 
Prohibition  subjects,  Rev.  J.  E.  C.  Sawyer  reported  such 
events  denominational  as  a  Methodist  conference;  Rev. 
Dr.  Jeremiah  Taylor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  and 
Rev.   G.   L.  Westgate  were  also  contributors. 

In  scientific  matters,  the  column  entitled  "Notes  and 
Discoveries"  was  started  by  Rev.  R.  M.  Devens  of 
Norton,  Mass.,  who  made  notes  from  periodicals  each 
week,  and  his  contributions  attracted  no  little  attention. 
A  unique  feature  of  his  work  was  his  handwriting,  which 
was  a  script  so  regular  that  it  seemed  almost  like  printed 
matter.  A  foundry  whose  attention  was  called  to  the 
chirography  adopted  it  for  a  font,  which  was  called  the 
Devens  type.  Although  the  letters  were  so  regular, 
Mr.  Devens  wrote  rapidly  and  apparently  with  little  effort. 
Dr.  Edwin  M.  Snow,  Brown,  1845,  was  long  city  regis- 
trar and  municipal  health  officer.  He  made  a  special 
study  of  such  contagious  diseases  as  small-pox  and  yellow 
fever,  and  contributed  from  the  abundance  of  his  infor- 
mation to  the  columns  of  the  Journal.  Dr.  W.  F.  Chan- 
ning,  son  of  Ellery  Channing,  made  a  specialty  of  socio- 
logical reform,  although  he  was  interested  in  all  inventions, 
especially  the  telephone,  and  wrote  about  them  for  the 
Journal.  Among  the  medical  authorities  who  have  been 
contributors  was  Dr.  Charles  W.  Parsons,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard.  He  was  a  nephew  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes, 
whom  he  resembled  in  feature.     Dr.   George  B.   Peck, 


no  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

who  is  still  practicing  in  Providence,  was  one  of  the  Journal 
contributors. 

Probably  as  distinguished  an  army  officer  as  any  who 
contributed  to  the  Journal  was  Col.  J.  Albert  Munroe,  who 
was  an  engineer  after  leaving  the  artillery  service.  Dur- 
ing the  Civil  War  he  participated  in  thirty-one  engage- 
ments and  had  four  horses  shot  under  him.  He  once 
commanded  the  well-known  Cushing  battery,  which  was 
afterward  stationed  at  Newport.  As  an  engineer  he  was 
engaged  in  many  enterprises,  including  the  survey  of  the 
Mississippi  river  and  the  building  of  a  bridge  over  the 
Thames  river  at  New  London,  Conn.  He  prepared  for 
the  Journal  the  series  of  articles  on  the  war  relics  of  the 
Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Historical  Society,  and  he  wrote 
the  chapter  on  the  growth  of  manufacturing  in  Providence, 
published  at  the  250th  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the 
town.  The  contributions  of  former  Governor  Henry 
Howard  appeared  over  his  initials  and  often  related  to 
mechanical  subjects,  with  which  he  was  especially  familiar. 
He  also  wrote  letters  of  travel  in  this  country  and  abroad 
and  prepared  parodies  on  familiar  verse  and  dialect 
sketches. 

Letters  from  Tunis  can  be  found  frequently  in  the  files 
of  the  Journal,  which  were  written  by  Amos  Perry,  who 
was  United  States  Consul  there.  He  brought  represent- 
atives of  that  government  to  America  on  a  visit,  and  he 
began  negotiations  with  that  country  which  resulted  in 
bringing  home  the  body  of  John  Howard  Payne  for  burial 
in  his  native  land.  Mr.  Perry  was  for  twenty  years  sec- 
retary of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society  and  while 
connected  with  that  institution  he  improved  his  oppor- 


CONTRIBUTORS   AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  Ill 

tunity  for  writing.  Foreign  letters  also  came  from  Samuel 
T.  Browne,  paymaster  in  the  Navy,  who  continued  the 
interest  in  the  Journal  which  he  had  formed  while  a  carrier 
for  the  paper.  Albert  O.  Tilden  also  wrote  letters  of 
travel  during  his  career  in  the  Navy.  Beginning  as  a  war 
correspondent  when  appointed  chaplain  of  the  2nd  Rhode 
Island  Regiment,  Rev.  John  D.  Buegless  continued  that 
work,  after  he  became  chaplain  in  the  Navy,  until  his 
death  at  Nagasaki,  July  31,  1887.  Letters  from  Japan 
were  contributed  by  Professor  William  S.  Liscomb, 
Brown,  1872,  who  went  to  that  country  to  take  the  presi- 
dency of  a  college.  He  had  been  a  contributor  to  the 
Atlantic  and  other  publications,  and  wrote  excellent  verse. 
Articles  from  California  were  occasionally  written  by 
Gen.  Francis  James  Lippitt,  veteran  of  the  Mexican  and 
Civil  wars,  who  always  kept  up  his  interest  in  Providence 
and  occasionally  visited  the  city.  William  M.  Hale, 
Brown,  1841,  was  forced  to  move  to  Colorado  for  his 
health,  and  his  breezy  sketches  to  the  Journal  from  the 
western  plains  were  filled  with  allusions  to  the  Rhode 
Island  home  from  which  he  had  been  banished. 

One  of  the  most  valued  contributors  to  the  Journal 
was  John  R.  Bartlett,  father  of  Rear  Admiral  Bartlett. 
He  was  Secretary  of  State  for  seventeen  years,  and  was 
the  confidential  adviser  of  John  Carter  Brown  in  the  pre- 
paration of  his  rare  collection  of  books  and  manuscripts. 
Among  the  substantial  business  men  who  have  written 
for  the  Journal  was  William  Binney,  whose  co-operation 
in  municipal  matters  was  particularly  valuable  when  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Common  Council.  When  articles 
were  wanted  on  the  cotton  market,  William   Goddard 


112  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

was  often  called  upon.  He  was  chairman  of  the  com- 
mission appointed  to  devise  plans  for  terminal  facilities 
in  Providence,  and  although  its  recommendations  were 
not  adopted  at  first,  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  finally 
offered  by  the  committee  of  "experts"  w^as  almost  the 
same,  and  it  was  accepted,  although  under  a  different 
name.  All  through  the  discussion  which  resulted  in  a 
change  of  railroad  grade  and  a  new  station,  Mr.  God- 
dard  took  a  prominent  part  through  the  Journal  columns. 

On  art  subjects  the  contributions  of  Albert  J.  Jones, 
which  dealt  especially  with  sculpture,  came  from  Italy. 
The  music  critic  for  the  Journal  was  at  one  time  Theodore 
T.  Barker,  a  teacher  in  singing  w^ho  kept  a  piano  ware- 
house. Sydney  R.  Burleigh,  the  artist,  has  occasionally 
written  about  paintings,  but  his  father,  George  S.  Bur- 
leigh, wrote  more  frequently,  generally  dealing  with  some 
Socialistic  subject,  for  he  w^as  greatly  interested  in  that 
theory.  He  also  wrote  poetry.  The  appearance  of  the 
senior  Burleigh  was  certainly  striking,  for  he  wore  curls 
and  a  long  white  beard.  William  E.  Foster,  the  librarian, 
has  written  scholarly  articles  for  the  Journal,  especially 
dealing  with  books  and  literature. 

Joshua  ^I.  Addeman,  vice-president  of  the  Industrial 
Trust  Co.,  was  Secretary  of  State  from  1872  to  1887,  and 
did  considerable  work  for  the  Journal  during  that  time, 
especially  in  preparing  a  review  of  the  acts  of  the  As- 
sembly, which  was  published  the  day  after  that  body 
adjourned.  He  had  previously  reported  lectures  and  other 
matters  for  the  Journal,  and  when  he  went  to  the  war  he 
sent  letters  about  his  battalion  of  colored  troops.  Charles 
Blake,  for  over  thirty  years  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court, 


'c:^ 


GENERAL  CONTRICUTORS  TO  THE  JOURNAL. 


E.  H.  Hazard, 
Edward  J.  Gushing, 
Joshua  M.  Addeman, 


Thomas  R.  Hazard, 
Charles  Blake, 
John  C.  PEtiRAM. 


CONTRIBUTORS  AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  II3 

was  relied  on  to  furnish  the  decisions  handed  down  by 
that  body.  He  w^as  graduated  from  Brown  in  1855,  in  the 
class  with  Richard  Olney,  President  Cleveland's  former 
Secretary  of  State,  and  he  has  been  an  authority  on 
theatrical  and  historical  matters.  Governor  Elisha  Dyer, 
the  senior,  and  Judge  Horatio  Rogers  generally  wrote  on 
matters  of  local  history. 

Levi  W.  Russell,  formerly  principal  of  the  Bridgham 
street  grammar  school,  occupied  some  of  his  time  when 
spending  vacations  in  Ashburnham,  Mass.,  in  preparing 
the  "Up  Country  Sketches"  which  were  a  feature  of  the 
Journal  correspondence.  Sylvester  Southworth  was  es- 
pecially interested  in  the  theatre,  but  after  his  retirement 
from  active  work  he  wrote  the  letters  from  Morrisiana, 
N.  Y.,  over  the  signature  "John  Smith  of  Arkansas" 
that  revived  old  memories  of  Providence.  The  letters 
of  Orville  M.  Remington  dealt  with  various  subjects,  and 
they  were  always  interesting  and  full  of  observations  on 
local  life. 

Albert  C.  Holbrook,  who  was  retiring  and  keenly  sen- 
sitive to  criticism,  was  interested  in  antiquarian  mat- 
ters and  wrote  about  them  for  the  Journal.  George  C. 
Mason  of  Newport,  once  editor  of  the  Mercury  in  that 
city,  used  the  nom  de  gulrre  "  Aquidneck"  for  his  articles. 

The  conspicuous  humorist  of  the  paper  was  Edward 
J.  Gushing  of  North  Providence,  who  contributed  a 
series  of  articles  from  New  York  at  the  request  of 
Senator  Anthony.  Their  wit  has  not  lost  flavor  by  the 
lapse  of  time,  for  they  are  just  as  amusing  to-day  as  when 
they  were  written  over  twenty  years  ago.  Mr.  Gushing 
is  the  author  of  a  little  work  called   "Business  Men's 


114  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

Lyrics,"  and  this,  together  with  his  remarks  on  debtors 
and  creditors,  established  his  reputation  as  a  wit  with 
keen  insight  into  the  frailties  of  humanity  and  with  a 
fertile  imagination.  His  humor  was  so  refined  and  his 
wit  so  sparkling  that  his  articles  were  notable.  One  of 
the  comparatively  recent  efforts  of  Mr.  Gushing,  which 
brings  a  laugh  whenever  it  is  recalled  to  those  who  heard 
it,  was  his  famous  address  before  the  old  Press  Club. 
His  funny  sayings  gained  strength  from  the  grave  way  in 
which  he  uttered  them — as  if  each  word  caused  him  pain. 

The  lawyers  who  have  been  contributors  to  the  Journal 
include  the  late  Judge  George  M.  Carpenter,  who  was 
once  a  reporter,  and  Hon.  John  H.  Stiness,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  who  was  particularly  interested 
in  the  move  for  the  new  Court  House  building,  when  a 
member  of  the  Assembly.  Abraham  Payne  wrote  articles 
for  the  Journal  all  through  his  career  as  a  member  of 
the  bar,  and  his  discriminating  sketches  of  former  asso- 
ciates were  afterward  published  in  book  form.  In  the 
latter  days  of  his  life  he  wrote  on  general  subjects,  and  the 
paper  was  always  glad  to  receive  his  contributions.  He 
was  one  of  the  friends  Senator  Anthony  welcomed  to 
this  family  circle,  and  he  was  intimately  associated  with 
Journal  editors  for  many  years.  His  death,  in  1886, 
called  forth  this  appreciative  comment: 

''Mr.  Payne,  brilliant  in  private  life  and  among  friends, 
saw  himself  passed  in  the  race  of  life  for  riches  by  many 
who  had  neither  his  wit  nor  his  learning.  Aside  from  a 
certain  inherent  cynicism,  he  had  a  most  judicial  mind. 
He  saw  things  clearly,  he  saw  all  sides  of  all  questions,  and 
he  usually  saw  to  the  bottom  of  issues." 


CONTRIBUTORS  AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  I15 

John  C.  Pegram,  who  was  for  a  time  associated  with 
Mr.  Payne  in  practice,  had  been  educated  for  the  Navy, 
but  he  resigned  three  years  after  graduating  from  the 
Academy  in  1863.  His  first  work  for  the  Journal  con- 
sisted of  the  "Quahaug"  papers,  contributed  from  Bristol, 
which  appeared  between  1873  and  1875.  During  the 
administrations  of  Mr.  Danielson  and  Mr.  Williams  he 
frequently  wrote  editorial  articles  and  book  reviews  for 
the  paper.     He  also  contributed  excellent  verse. 

Hon.  William  P.  Sheffield  of  Newport,  who  was  ap- 
pointed United  States  Senator  to  succeed  Senator  An- 
thony and  served  two  months  in  that  position  until  his 
successor  was  elected,  began  writing  for  the  paper  in 
1853.  He  served  in  the  Assembly  when  the  agitation 
over  the  Ives-Hazard  affair  was  so  acute  that  a  caucus 
had  voted  to  remove  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
He  stood  up  in  their  defence  until  this  action  was  rescinded. 
When  a  member  of  the  Assembly  in  1866  he  was  appointed 
chairman  of  a  committee  to  investigate  the  condition  of 
the  Indian  tribe  living  in  Charlestown.  At  Mr.  Daniel- 
son's  request  he  wrote  about  the  Indians,  and  his  article 
published  in  the  Journal  attracted  no  little  attention  at 
the  time. 

Edward  Field,  clerk  of  the  Municipal  Court,  and  the 
well-known  historian,  has  written  occasionally  for  the 
Journal.  Josiah  B.  Bowditch,  who  was  for  a  time  Com- 
missioner of  Industrial  Statistics  in  Rhode  Island,  is  a 
regular  contributor  on  local  statistics,  especially  concern- 
ing registration  and  the  final  summary  of  the  votes  of  the 
State. 

When  Charles  Pitts  Robinson  of  Providence  went  abroad 


Il6  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

he  wrote  letters  to  the  Journal  from  Rome  and  other  places. 
Strangers  in  the  "Eternal  City"  were  then  the  object  of 
no  little  suspicion,  and  the  hotel  rooms  occupied  by  the 
Robinsons  were  searched  one  day  while  they  were  absent 
and  several  Journal  letters  were  included  in  the  articles 
that  were  confiscated. 

A  prominent  place  among  the  Journal  contributors  be- 
longs to  Edward  H.  Hazard,  the  lawyer,  who  was  for  a 
long  time  the  local  "obituary  editor."  No  Rhode  Island 
public  man  died  in  his  time  whose  friends  did  not  look 
the  next  day  for  the  familiar  style  of  Mr.  Hazard  and  his 
original  expressions  of  eulogy.  The  Hazard  obituary 
often  began  with  a  selection  of  poetry,  followed  by  the 

brief  sentence  " is  dead."     Then  came  personal 

reminiscences  of  events  in  which  the  writer  himself  took 
an  active  part,  and  an  array  of  facts  that  might  well  sur- 
prise those  who  had  not  taken  pains  to  store  material 
for  such  occasions.  He  generally  used  several  Latin 
sentences  before  the  close,  to  add  a  touch  of  the  classics 
to  his  estimates.  So  well  recognized  was  the  Hazard 
style  that  when  Charles  Blake  once  imitated  it  to  pen  his 
own  obituary  the  article  created  a  sensation;  for  those 
who  received  copies  that  had  been  printed  for  private 
circulation  thought  that  Mr.  Blake  must  really  be  dead. 
When  Gov.  Van  Zandt  received  the  Blake  "obituary" 
at  Newport  he  could  draw  no  other  conclusion,  for  the 
composition  was  apparently  Mr.  Hazard's,  and  he  in- 
ferred that  his  friend  Danielson  had  sent  him  the  slip. 
The  amusing  part  of  it  was  that  the  Governor  cast  about 
to  see  whom  he  might  appoint  Mr.  Blake's  successor  as 
clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  not  being  aware  at  the  time 


CONTRIBUTORS   AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  T17 

that  the  Court  itself  must  make  the  appointment,  until 
the  Assembly  should  meet.  Mr.  Hazard  took  the  joke 
pleasantly,  but  he  wrote  few  obituaries  after  that,  and  he 
always  gave  as  the  reason  the  fact  that  Mr.  Blake  had 
robbed  him  of  his  occupation.  Mr.  Hazard's  personality 
attracted  attention  especially  in  his  later  years,  for  he  was 
accustomed  to  appear  on  the  streets  with  a  shawl  tightly 
clutched  about  his  shoulders,  long  after  the  fashion  had 
changed  in  favor  of  the  modern  overcoat.  His  success 
as  a  pleader  at  the  bar  was  due,  perhaps,  to  the  quality  of 
his  voice,  with  its  "tearful  pitch,"  and  he  often  tried  to 
learn  about  the  antecedents  or  the  family  of  the  jury- 
men that  he  might  use  some  word  of  praise  to  weigh  in 
favor  of  his  side  of  the  case  when  the  verdict  was  being 
made  up.  Miss  Caroline  Hazard,  President  of  Wel- 
lesley  College,  herself  a  contributor  to  the  Journal,  has 
written  this  account  of  the  part  the  Hazard  family 
took  in  the  columns  of  the  paper: 

"  Probably  the  most  voluminous  contributor  to  the  Prov- 
idence Journal,  of  the  Hazard  family,  was  the  late  Mr. 
Edward  Hull  Hazard.  From  the  time  of  his  graduation 
from  Brown,  in  1834,  Mr.  Hazard's  ready  pen  was  at  the 
service  of  his  fellow  citizens.  He  belonged  to  a  dis- 
tinguished little  group  of  lawyers,  and  had  the  great 
example  of  Sumner  and  Choate.  It  was  still  the  day  of 
stirring  eloquence  with  polished  and  flowing  sentences, 
reaching  a  climax  which  would  thrill  an  audience.  Some- 
thing of  this  style  of  appeal  pervaded  his  written  com- 
position as  well,  and  for  all  the  years  of  his  later  life  he 
was  the  man  who  was  turned  to  to  describe  the  virtues  and 
lament  the  loss  of  men  whom  he  had  known.     He  had  a 


Il8  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

singularly  charming  gift  of  coming  into  close  association 
with  many  different  persons.  His  very  failings  were  on 
the  side  of  human  brotherhood,  and  his  joyous  spirit 
found  a  point  of  contact  in  every  person  of  his  acquain- 
tance. He  was  therefore  a  born  eulogist.  His  kindly 
pen  depicted  only  the  virtues  of  his  friends  and  set  them 
before  his  readers  in  glowing  colors.  Not  only  did  he 
commemorate  those  who  had  gone  before — although  this 
was  perhaps  his  most  distinctive  service  in  writing  for 
the  Journal — but  his  comments  on  everyday  affairs  were 
also  freely  offered,  and  always  pointed  and  witty. 

''Another  member  of  the  Hazard  family,  who  in  his 
later  years  published  a  good  deal  in  the  columns  of  the 
Journal,  was  the  late  Thomas  Robinson  Hazard,  w^ho 
delighted  to  call  himself  Shepherd  Tom,  from  the  occu- 
pation of  his  youth,  when  he  introduced  South  Down 
sheep  in  southern  Rhode  Island  and  was  famous  for  his 
flock.  Mr.  Hazard  was  born  in  the  closing  days  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  his  retentive  mind  presented 
vivid  pictures  of  Rhode  Island  in  the  early  days  of  the 
nineteenth.  He  was  educated  at  Westtown  School,  near 
Philadelphia,  but  returned  to  Rhode  Island  before  1820, 
and  lived  either  in  Narragansett  or  Portsmouth  on  the 
Island  of  Rhode  Island,  for  the  rest  of  his  long  life,  which 
extended  to  nearly  ninety  years.  In  his  vigorous  early 
manhood,  he  was  a  prime  mover  in  promoting  better  care 
for  the  insane;  and  one  of  the  notable  services  which  he 
rendered  to  the  State  was  his  report  on  the  condition  of 
the  rural  insane.  In  this  report  he  manifested  that 
vigor  of  style  and  clearness  of  statement  which  charac- 
terized his  writings.     About  the  middle  of  his  life  he  be- 


CONTRIBUTORS  AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  II9 

came  an  ardent  Spiritualist  and  wrote  much  for  the  col- 
umns of  the  Journal,  and  for  other  papers,  in  support  of 
the  peculiar  views  which  he  espoused  so  warmly.  There 
was  something  in  him  of  the  mystic  as  well  as  the  prac- 
tical man — the  poet  as  well  as  the  man  of  affairs.  And 
when  in  his  ripe  old  age  he  began  to  write  of  his  early 
experiences  and  the  land  of  his  birth,  there  was  a  certain 
glamour  which  pervaded  his  writing,  a  touch  of  mourning 
joy  which  illumined  his  reminiscences,  which  made  them 
particularly  delightful  to  his  readers. 

*'The  series  of  papers  for  the  Journal  by  which  he  will 
be  best  remembered  are  called  the  'Jonny-Cake  Papers,' 
and  have  been  published  in  book  form.  He  begins  very 
simply  by  describing  the  different  sorts  of  meal  produced 
by  the  grinding  of  different  granite  stones,  flat  meal  and 
round  meal.  About  the  virtues  of  this  ambrosia,  as  he 
calls  it,  which  he  considers  a  food  fit  for  the  gods,  and 
about  the  baking  of  the  jonny  cake  he  weaves  all  sorts  of 
anecdotes  and  recounts  experiences  of  his  early  days  in 
a  manner  which  is  quite  fascinating.  These  papers  were 
continued  almost  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  and  make  a 
contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  State  which  any  stu- 
dent of  its  history  must  reckon  with  as  throwing  side 
lights  on  its  past. 

''There  have  been  other  contributors  to  the  columns 
of  the  Journal  of  the  name  of  Hazard — Rowland  Gibson 
Hazard  and  Rowland  Hazard,  who  both  expressed  them- 
selves trenchantly  upon  topics  of  the  time  as  occasion 
offered.  More  distinctive  literary  compositions  have  been 
published  from  the  pen  of  Caroline  Hazard— little  prose 


I20  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

meditations,  or  bits  of  verse  on  aspects  of  nature,  and 
talcs  of  Narragansett." 

The  Hazard  family  had  so  many  "Toms"  that  they 
were  popularly  distinguished  by  such  titles  as  ''Shepherd 
Tom,"  "College  Tom,"  "Nailer  Tom,"  etc.,  and  it  is 
claimed  there  were  thirty-seven  such  prefixes  employed. 

The  "  Jonny  Cake  Papers"  (he  spelled  Johnny  without 
the  h)  which  were  dedicated  to  Phillis,  his  grandfather's 
colored  cook,  appeared  in  the  Journal  during  the  year 
1879,  and  they  were  printed  as  a  book  in  1882.  Thomas 
R.  Hazard  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  characters  in 
the  State,  and  his  name  is  associated  with  movements  for 
the  cause  of  popular  education,  the  defence  of  the  poor, 
and  the  protection  of  the  weak.  He  bought  the  historic 
Vaucluse  estate  in  Portsmouth,  where  he  continued  farm- 
ing as  a  recreation,  but  his  serious  work  was  for  the 
benefit  of  his  fellows. 

As  the  Journal  staff  was  increased  there  was  less  need 
for  calling  on  outside  contributors  for  comment,  but  an 
opportunity  has  always  been  afforded  in  its  columns  for 
the  fullest  discussion  of  public  questions.  When  public 
parks  for  cities  began  to  receive  attention,  the  late  Dr. 
Timothy  Newell  was  one  of  the  first  to  take  hold  of  the 
matter  in  Providence.  He  had  always  been  interested 
in  horticulture  and  gardening,  about  which  he  had  written 
much  for  the  paper,  and  he  was  glad  to  avail  himself  of 
the  opportunity  of  publishing  a  series  of  articles  in  the 
Journal  on  breathing  spaces  in  Europe,  which  he  after- 
ward collected  in  pamphlet  form  for  distribution  by  the 
Public  Park  Association,  in  which  he  was  the  most  active 
worker. 


WOMEN    WRITERS    FOR    THE    JOURNAL. 
Miss  Caroline  Hazard, 


Miss  Nora  Perry, 

Mrs.  Anna  Garlin  Spencer, 


Miss  Emma  M.  Converse, 

Miss  Esther  Bernon  Carfenter. 


CONTRIBUTORS  AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  121 

His  successor  in  this  work  is  Henry  A.  Barker,  treas- 
urer and  executive  officer  of  the  PubHc  Park  Asso- 
ciation, who  had  been  previously  a  contributor  to  the 
Journal.  Dr.  Newell's  work  was  for  the  love  of  the  subject, 
and  there  was  such  an  increase  in  this  class  of  correspond- 
ence that  the  "Letters  to  the  Editor"  became  a  feature 
in  the  Sunday  Journal.  Perhaps  the  comments  of  the 
late  Henry  C.  Clark,  which  were  frequent  and  contained 
positive  opinions  on  various  public  matters,  did  as  much 
to  bring  this  change  about  as  any  other  influence,  for  he 
was  likely  to  express  opinions  with  which  the  editors  did 
not  agree  and  for  which  they  did  not  care  to  assume  the 
responsibility. 

It  was  not  until  Miss  Sara  F.  Hopkins  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  staff  in  1886  that  a  regular  woman's  department 
appeared  in  the  Journal,  and  then  much  of  it  was  ex- 
perimental work.  Miss  Hopkins  had  reported  the 
Mardi  Gras  festival  at  New  Orleans  for  the  Journal  in 
1885,  and  she  came  to  the  paper  with  a  record  of  literary 
work  for  several  publications,  while  she  had  contributed 
a  story  to  the  Youth's  Companion  that  had  won  a  prize. 
It  was  her  duty  to  select  matter  that  she  thought  would 
appeal  especially  to  the  sex,  and  the  task  was  not  an 
easy  one  when  there  was  no  precedent  to  follow. 
When  women  everywhere  were  organizing  and  Colonial 
Dames  were  searching  the  records  to  establish  their 
right  to  enrollment  as  members,  Mrs.  Emma  Shaw 
Colcleugh   started   a   club   department   in   the   Journal. 

Mrs.  Colcleugh  had  also  made  a  reputation  as  a 
traveler,  acquiring  interesting  material  on  her  trips  in 
far  countries,  which  she  described  for  various  publications. 


122  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

She  visited  Alaska  in  1884,  when  the  resources  of  that 
country  were  httle  developed,  and  went  there  again  the 
next  year  stopping  at  Yellowstone  Park  on  the  way.  In 
1888  she  went  to  British  Columbia,  and  repeated  the  visit 
the  following  season.  She  went  to  the  Sandwich  Islands 
in  1890,  she  explored  the  McKenzie  river  in  1894,  and 
made  a  trip  to  Labrador  and  Newfoundland  in  1895.  In 
1897  she  sailed  about  the  islands  in  the  South  Pacific 
ocean,  covering  over  30,000  miles.  Mrs.  Colcleugh 
accompanied  Miss  Hopkins  to  Cuba  in  1899  to  study  con- 
ditions of  the  poor  and  of  the  children  suffering  from  the 
effects  of  the  war.  The  next  year  Mrs.  Colcleugh  went 
to  Porto  Rico,  and  in  1902  she  was  commissioned  by  the 
Journal  to  go  to  Africa  and  write  about  the  savage  tribes 
of  the  equatorial  regions. 

Although  this  department  in  the  Journal,  especially 
for  women  and  conducted  by  women,  is  comparatively 
recent,  women  had  long  contributed  their  literary  work 
to  the  paper.  Mrs.  Sarah  Helen  Whitman  had  occasion- 
ally published  her  poems  in  the  Journal,  as  did  Mrs. 
Lucy  Akerman,  author  of  the  lines  ''Nothing  but  Leaves," 
which  were  used  as  a  hymn.  Soon  after  the  death  of 
Senator  Anthony,  incidents  in  his  life  were  collected  and 
published  in  a  series  of  articles  which  appeared  in  the 
Journal  from  the  pen  of  Miss  Sarah  Sprague  Jacobs,  an 
intimate  friend  of  the  family.  She  was  a  member  of  the 
old  Philanstery  Club,  which  included  among  its  members 
the  Senator  and  other  literary  people.  Mrs.  Jane  An- 
thony Eames,  a  cousin  of  Senator  Anthony,  wrote  fre- 
quent letters  for  the  Journal  on  trips  to  Bermuda,  or  from 
the  New  Hampshire  parish  of  her  husband,  Rev.  James 


CONTRIBUTORS   AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  1 23 

H.  Eames.  Letters  from  abroad  were  also  supplied  by 
Mrs.  Lucy  C.  Bainbridge,  who  traveled  around  the  globe 
with  her  husband,  pastor  of  the  Central  Baptist  Church, 
and  called  her  articles  the  "Round  the  World"  series. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  K.  Churchill,  who  had  been  writing  on 
woman  suffrage  for  the  paper,  happened  to  be  in  Beth- 
lehem, N.  H.,  when  an  accident  disabled  Governor 
Howard  of  Rhode  Island,  who  was  stopping  there.  She 
wrote  about  this  and  followed  it  with  a  series  of  letters 
that  did  much  to  increase  the  popularity  of  that  resort, 
especially  for  Rhode  Islanders.  She  also  reported  the 
Centennial  at  Philadelphia  for  the  Journal. 

Stories  about  soldiers  appeared  in  the  correspondence 
from  Washington  by  Mrs.  W.  W.  Brown,  and  she  used 
the  title  "Shirley"  during  the  Civil  War.  Mrs.  Susan 
Stephens  Lyon  used  the  signature  "Evea"  when  she  de- 
scribed incidents  on  her  trip  to  Japan.  Miss  Louise  C. 
Hoppin  and  Miss  Fannie  B.  Ward  have  also  written 
letters  of  travel  for  the  Journal. 

Among  those  who  had  special  appeals  to  make  through 
the  Journal  were  Mrs.  J.  K.  Barney,  who  wrote  on  tem- 
perance; Mrs.  Emily  A.  Hall,  wife  of  Dr.  Hall,  who  ad- 
vocated many  reform  measures;  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Buffum 
Chace,  who  championed  the  cause  of  woman  suffrage; 
and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Lily  Chace  Wyman,  who  also 
urged  greater  freedom  for  her  sex. 

The  initials  "G.  P."  designated  the  contributions 
from  Miss  Grace  Peckham,  sister  of  Mrs.  George  W. 
Danielson,  while  she  was  studying  medicine  in  New 
York  city,  and  Miss  Fannie  Cowing  signed  the  initials 
"F.   C."   to   her  articles.     Miss  Katherine  H.   Austin, 


124  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

an  assistant  in  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society  library, 
has  published  poems  in  the  Journal  as  well  as  commu- 
nications on  varied  subjects,  and  Mrs.  E.  W.  T.  Smith 
also  wrote  poetry,  but  made  a  specialty  of  art  subjects. 
One  of  the  most  valued  women  contributors  to  the  Journal 
has  been  Rev.  Anna  Garlin  Spencer,  who  first  wrote 
articles  for  Mr.  Danielson  when  she  was  a  Providence 
school  teacher,  giving  special  attention  to  educational 
and  sociological  subjects.  She  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Rhode  Island  Woman's  Club,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Short  Story  Club,  an  active  organization  main- 
tained by  the  literary  women  in  Providence  and  vicinity. 
The  starting  of  the  Sunday  edition  in  1885  stimulated 
correspondents,  for  an  attempt  was  made  to  bring  out 
more  local  talent.  One  of  the  ablest  of  the  writers  who 
were  brought  to  the  front  about  that  time  was  Esther 
Bernon  Carpenter,  late  of  Wickford,  whose  ''South 
County  Sketches"  are  still  enjoyed  by  those  who  turn 
back  the  files  to  read  them.  They  were  quaint  delin- 
eations of  country  life,  often  written  in  colloquial  lan- 
guage, and  were  delightfully  fresh  and  original.  The 
Journal  considered  them  "equal  in  truth  and  vividness 
and  strength  to  any  work  of  the  kind  ever  done  in  this 
country."  Miss  Carpenter  soon  established  a  reputation 
which  resulted  in  contributions  to  other  publications, 
but  her  early  death  cut  short  what  seemed  a  very 
promising  career.  Miss  M.  E.  W.  Wardwell  contributed 
society  letters  from  Newport,  and  her  articles  in  Life 
afterward  became  a  feature  of  that  paper.  Nora  Perry, 
the  author  who  had  contributed  her  early  poems  to  the 
Journal,  became  a  Boston  correspondent  whose  letters 


CONTRIBUTORS   AND   CORRESPONDENTS.  1 25 

touched  upon  a  wide  range  of  subjects.  She  was  a  Provi- 
dence woman  whose  name  is  most  associated  in  the  popular 
mind  with  the  Hnes  "After  the  Ball,"  which  she  composed. 
Kate  E.  Conway  of  the  Boston  Pilot  also  wrote  occasion- 
ally, as  did  Katherine  Tynan,  the  Irish  poetess. 

Some  excellent  work  was  done  soon  after  the  Sunday 
Journal  started  by  Miss  Mariana  M.  Bisbee,  now  Mrs. 
Tallman.  She  described  resorts  easy  of  access  under  the 
title  "Pleasant  Places  in  Rhode  Island,"  and  her  booklet 
on  "Trolley  Trips  in  Rhode  Island"  was  widely  circu- 
lated. A  novel  bit  of  her  verse  marked  the  final  obliter- 
ation of  the  sheet  of  water  where  the  Union  Station  now 
stands,  for  she  represented  an  "old  cove,"  who  had  been 
an  habitue  of  its  banks,  bidding  farewell  to  the  cove. 
Her  poem  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Williams  was  especially 
pleasing  to  his  friends. 

In  order  to  enrich  its  literary  pages  the  Journal  began 
reaching  out  in  the  early  days  of  the  Sunday  issue  to  secure 
the  services  of  trained  writers.  Arlo  Bates,  later  pro- 
fessor of  English  Literature  at  the  Institute  of  Technology 
and  an  author  of  repute,  was  engaged  to  supply  a  weekly 
letter  from  Boston,  devoted  to  art,  politics,  and  literature, 
and  he  continued  this  until  succeeded  in  1889  by  Edward 
Fuller.  Letters  about  English  politics  were  written  by 
Alex.  Paul,  the  Parliamentary  reporter.  I.  N.  Ford,  the 
New  York  Tribune's  London  correspondent,  also  wrote 
for  a  time;  while  Julian  Ralph,  the  fertile  writer  and  en- 
ergetic traveler,  who  for  several  years  wrote  a  weekly 
letter  from  New  York,  prepared  special  articles  for  the 
Journal  when  visiting  foreign  countries. 

Senator  Anthony's  interest   in   national   affairs  made 


126  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

the  Washington  service  of  the  paper  particularly  strong, 
but  he  was  not  content  with  sending  what  he  could  learn, 
for  he  engaged  the  veteran  correspondent  Ben.  Perley 
Poore  of  the  Boston  Journal  to  send  letters  to  Providence. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Gen.  H.  V.  Boynton,  who  afterward 
had  charge  of  the  southern  section  in  the  Associated  Press. 
Then  the  correspondence  was  taken  by  Elbridge  G. 
Bunnell,  Washington  representative  of  the  New  York 
Times.  It  was  Mr.  Bunnell  who  introduced  Frederick 
H.  Rowland  to  the  Bureau  when  he  took  the  work  in 
1894.  Mr.  Rowland  continued  in  that  capacity  until 
he  went  to  New  York  city  in  1898  to  supplement  the  work 
of  the  Associated  Press  by  special  service  from  that  city. 
He  went  to  the  seat  of  the  Boer  War  in  1900,  and  not  only 
acted  as  correspondent  for  the  Journal  there  but  repre- 
sented the  London  Baily  Mail  and  London  Evening 
News  in  the  camps  of  Generals  Hunter,  Methuen,  and 
Broadwood.  On  his  return  he  resumed  his  work  as 
Washington  correspondent,  and  he  prepared  a  volume 
concerning  his  experiences  in  the  war.  On  Mr.  How- 
land's  return  to  the  home  office  in  1903  he  was  succeeded 
by  Mr.  F.  L.  Merritt. 


CHAPTER  VL 
UNUSUAL  TRAITS  AND  ACTIVITIES. 

Charitable  and  Philanthropic  Enterprises  Conducted  by 
the  Journal.— Large  Amounts  Contributed  in  the  Civil 
War.— Relief  for  Sufferers  by  Fire  and  Flood.— The 
Journal  Office  Window,  Where  Lost  and  Found  Articles 
are  Displayed.— Some  of  the  Curiosities  it  has  Con- 
tained.—Members  of  the  Famous  Journal  "Sunday 
School." 


UNUSUAL  TRAITS  AND  ACTIVITIES. 

Traits  of  character  distinguish  the  newspaper  as  they 
do  the  individual,  and  these  become  conspicuous  or  seem 
peculiar  when  the  publication  achieves  prominence. 
Some  of  these  distinguishing  marks  come  from  the  sug- 
gestions of  editors,  while  others  are  developed  by  local 
environment,  such  as  the  character  of  the  constituency 
served.  One  newspaper  may  attempt  to  introduce  a 
phonetic  method  of  spelling,  while  another's  specialty 
may  be  its  death  notices,  which  are  elaborated  by  verse 
kept  in  stock  for  selection  by  bereaved  relations.  Bible 
texts  once  appeared  daily  at  the  head  of  the  editorial  page 
of  a  New  York  newspaper,  while  several  prominent 
journals  exclude  news  from  the  outside  pages,  which  are 
filled  with  advertising,  so  that  they  serve  as  a  cover. 

Now  that  a  single  press  association  serves  nearly  all 
with  the  same  telegraph  news,  the  chance  for  individ- 
uality has  been  lessened,  but  peculiarities  in  local  customs 
and  the  arrangement  of  forms  continue.  Many  pf  these 
ideas  which  have  been  developed  in  recent  years  are  not 
strictly  connected  with  the  news,  but  nevertheless  most 
publications  have  them  in  one  form  or  another.  In  this 
class  are  methods  of  raising  money  for  charitable  purposes 
or  the  inauguration  of  reform  movements,  which  are  too 
often  undertaken  for  mere  advertising  purposes. 

The  Journal  has  championed  many  public  movements, 
but  it  has  always  been  fortunate  enough  to   avoid   sus- 


\ 


130  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

picion  of  self-seeking  by  the  incidental  advertising.     The 
paper  serves  a  wealthy  and  generous  community,  whose 
response  has  followed  as  a  matter  of  course,  so  that  earnest 
solicitation  has  seldom  been  necessary.     No  doubt  much 
of  the  unhesitating  confidence  in   the  worthiness  of  a 
cause  advocated  by  the  Journal  and  the  willingness  to 
intrust  money  to  its  care  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Davis  has  been  interested  in  every  such  charity  and 
the  knowledge  that  he  would  turn  over  the  funds  to  the 
proper    authorities    for   distribution.     Hence    there    has 
been  hardly  a  great  disaster  in  the  United  States  for  the 
past  fifty  years,  calling  for  citizens  to  give  substantial 
sympathy  to  an  afflicted  community,  where  an  oppor- 
tunity was  not  afforded  for  gifts  over  the  Journal  counter. 
Mutual  confidence  has  grown  between  the  publisher  and 
the  reader  until  the  office  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  the 
natural  repository  of  money  collected  for  such  objects. 
No  doubt  the  exigencies  of  the  Civil  War  did  much  to 
stimulate  the  habit  of  giving  generously,  for  dollars  and 
cents  seemed  trifling  when  lives  were  being  sacrificed. 
When  the  ist  Rhode  Island  regiment  started  for  the  front 
the  proposition  to  raise  $500  wdth  which  to  buy  extra  sup- 
plies for  the  soldiers  met  with  instant  response,  but  this  sum 
was  small  in  comparison  with  what  was  required  after- 
wards.    After  the  battles  came  the  call  for  nursing  and 
medical  attendance,  so  that  money  literally  poured  in 
at  the  Journal  office.     For  several  months  the  State  at- 
tempted   to    provide    separately    for    her    own    soldiers, 
and    Senator  Anthony  was    kept    busy   at  Washington 
investigating  cases  of  need.     People  soon  found,  however, 
that  the  Sanitary  Commission  was  best  able  to  distribute 


UNUSUAL   TRAITS   AND  ACTIVITIES.  131 

all  the  relief  funds,  and  the  work  was  continued 
through  that  organization,  yet  so  much  was  contributed 
in  this  State  that  it  was  difficult  to  make  an  accurate 
estimate  of  the  amount. 

The  war  with  Spain  in  1898  afforded  an  excellent  op- 
portunity for  Rhode  Island  to  show  her  patriotism,  both 
in  furnishing  men  and  in  supplying  the  needs  of  the  soldiers 
generally.     The  State  furnished  a  larger  quota  than  was 
required,  and  although  the  Rhode  Island  volunteers  saw  no 
actual  service,  they  were  ready  and  showed  their  willing- 
ness to  take  a  part  in  active  operations.     The   Journal 
co-operated  with  the  authorities  in  equipping  the  volunteers 
and  in  planning  for  the  repair  ship  Vulcan,  which  did 
such  notable  work  under  the  command  of  Gardiner  C. 
Sims.    When  actual  hostilities  had  ended  and  the  army 
was  waiting  to  be  mustered  out  there  came  the  appeal 
from  officers  in   Cuba,  who  declared    that    their  men 
were  likely  to   be  decimated   by  exposure  or  disease  if 
longer  left  on  the  island.      Montauk  had  hardly  been 
selected   for   the   camp    of   the   convalescent   regiments 
when  the  work  of  relief  was  started  from  Providence, 
which  proved  to  be  the  most  available  point  from  which 
to  reach  the  end  of  Long  Island  by  water,  since  New 
York  city  was  hampered  by  poor  railroad  facilities  and 
the   failure   to   provide   other  means   of   transportation. 
None  of  the  Rhode  Island  volunteers  were  at  Montauk, 
but  relief  expeditions  were  at  once  started  from  here  with 
supplies  for  the  sick  and  needy,  which  were  provided  liber- 
ally in  response  to  suggestions  given  by  the  Journal.    The 
•towboat  Gaspee  was   chartered    and    representatives  of 
the  Journal  used  it  to  convey  two  cargoes  of  supplies  and 


132  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

delicacies,  which  were  distributed  to  the  regiments  most 
in  need  of  them.  An  attempt  was  made  to  reach  the 
most  remote  camps,  which  were  being  neglected,  and 
to  feed  the  regulars  for  whom  there  were  no  home  organi- 
zations to  provide.  The  newspaper  had  from  the  first 
co-operated  with  the  Rhode  Island  Sanitary  and  Relief 
Association,  but  the  trips  of  the  Gaspee  were  made  under 
its  own  direction,  while  the  provisions  carried  were 
personally  distributed  by  its  own  representatives. 

The  Gaspee  had  hardly  touched  the  Montauk  dock 
when  an  immediate  opportunity  for  relief  presented  itself. 
For  in  the  confusion  an  Illinois  regiment  had  been  or- 
dered out  to  take  a  special  train  for  home,  which  could 
not  be  reached  for  twenty-four  hours,  In  the  meantime 
the  soldiers  were  suffering  from  hunger  and  the  heat, 
which  prostrated  many  in  their  enfeebled  condition. 
Similar  aid  was  rendered  the  members  of  the  7th  and  17th 
United  States  Infantry,  the  ist,  2nd,  and  3rd  Cavalry,  and 
a  battalion  of  the  colored  9th  Cavalry.  A  second  ex- 
pedition was  necessary,  and  over  $3,000  was  distributed 
by  the  Journal  in  money,  food,  and  clothing.  It  had  also 
aided  in  fitting  out  the  thirteen  expeditions  that  went 
from  Providence. 

A  suggestion  was  made  in  November,  1898,  that  the 
Rhode  Island  boys  in  camp  ought  to  have  a  turkey  dinner 
on  Thanksgiving  Day,  and  the  appeal  was  hardly  pub- 
lished before  the  money  was  subscribed.  Horace  Vosc, 
who  has  annually  made  a  special  gift  of  a  turkey  to  grace 
the  White  House  table  on  this  occasion,  was  selected  to 
superintend  the  arrangements,  and  the  turkeys  were  for- 
warded to  South  Carolina,  that  the  boys  might  enjoy  a 
home  dinner. 


UNUSUAL   TRAITS   AND  ACTIVITIES. 


133 


Wars  have  not  monopolized  the  philanthropy  of  Prov- 
idence citizens,  who  have  continually  used  the  paper  as 
a  means  of  raising  money  and  distributing  it.  The 
Civil  War  had  hardly  ended  when  an  opportunity  came 
for  organized  charity  to  relieve  the  destitution  of  a  New 
England  city.  A  fire-cracker  started  a  conflagration  in 
July,  1866,  which  destroyed  over  $10,000,000  worth  of 
property  at  Portland,  Me.,  and  reduced  one  third  of  the 
city  to  ashes.  Within  three  days  a  meeting  of  Provi- 
dence citizens  was  called  and  the  Mayor  of  Portland  was 
authorized  to  draw  on  Providence  for  $10,000,  that 
amount  being  subscribed  at  once.  A  Providence  man 
was  sent  to  investigate  personally  the  situation  in  Portland, 
and  money  gifts  were  followed  by  clothing  and  supplies. 

When  Chicago  was  swept  by  fire  in  October,  1871,  the 
experiences  of  1866  were  repeated,  except  that  the  giv- 
ing was  more  prompt  and  on  a  much  larger  scale.  Over 
$55j374  was  then  collected  in  Providence  and  vicinity 
for  the  sufferers  by  that  fire,  and  of  that  $13,265,  or  by 
far  the  largest  amount  by  any  single  agency,  was  taken 
over  the  Journal  counter  and  passed  through  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Davis.  In  addition  to  this,  and  at  the  same  time, 
the  Journal  collected  $6,380  for  the  relief  of  sufferers  by 
forest  fires  in  Wisconsin  and  Michigan. 

The  Mill  river  disaster  in  May,  1874,  resulting  from 
a  broken  dam  in  western  Massachusetts,  caused  death 
and  suffering.  Rev.  C.  A.  Staples  announced  in  the 
Journal  that  he  would  take  charge  of  funds  for  relief 
work,  and  $700  was  given  him  to  distribute  there.  When 
the  Johnstown  flood  devastated  the  Conemaugh  valley 
a  call  was  made  for  subscriptions,  and  $3,000  of  the  amount 


134  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

raised  in  Providence  for  the  Pennsylvania  city  came 
through  the  Journal  office.  Similar  aid  has  been  ren- 
dered after  Mississippi  floods,  and  for  those  affected 
by  the  Charleston  earthquake,  the  Wallingford  Ct., 
tornado,  the  Porto  Rican  hurricane  in  1899,  and  the 
yellow  fever  epidemics. 

In  local  enterprises  the  Journal  has  been  ready  to  give 
its  aid  in  raising  money  for  such  objects  as  the  Soldiers' 
and  Sailors',  the  Doyle  and  the  Burnside  monuments. 
During  the  hard  times  in  the  winter  of  1893-94  the  en- 
ergies of  charitably  disposed  people  were  taxed  to  devise 
plans  for  affording  relief.  The  Journal  co-operated  with 
the  citizens'  committee  which  found  employment  for  the 
able-bodied  men  in  the  work  of  grading  land  about  Orms 
street.  It  was  the  result  of  the  newspaper's  suggestion 
that  a  supply  kitchen  association  was  formed  to  work 
with  the  other  agencies  in  dispensing  food  to  the  hungry. 

As  far  back  as  1868  the  Journal  aided  materially  in 
the  work  of  raising  money  for  the  Rhode  Island  Hos- 
pital and  it  has  always  been  ready  since  that  time  to  assist 
in  appeals  for  contributions  to  the  institution.  The  recent 
provision  for  consumptives  in  outdoor  camps  has  been 
made  possible  by  interest  in  the  work,  following  reports 
of  contributions  in  the  paper.  Besides  rendering  aid 
to  institutions  and  to  communities,  there  have  been 
numerous  instances  of  individual  relief  in  the  charities 
of  the  Journal,  such  as  the  fund  for  the  widow  of  a  fire- 
man killed  on  the  street  by  a  fall  from  a  ladder. 

When  the  suggestion  was  made  that  a  subscription 
be  started  by  school  children  to  buy  the  elephant  "Baby 
Roger"  for  Roger  Williams  Park,  the    purpose  was  to 


UNUSUAL   TRAITS   AND  ACTIVITIES.  135 

secure  as  many  givers  as  possible  for  the  object;  hence 
it  was  necessary  to  refuse  large  sums  offered  to  complete 
the  needed  amount.  The  enterprise  was  started  in  the 
spring  of  1893,  and  in  a  few  weeks  the  $1,500  needed  was 
subscribed  by  2,300  children,  who  made  their  deposits 
in  the  Journal  office.  This  addition  to  the  Zoo  was  for- 
mally presented  to  the  park  commission  by  the  child  who 
first  gave  money  for  the  object,  and  over  30,000  people, 
many  of  them  children,  witnessed  the  event.  The  story 
of  ''Baby  Roger"  and  his  acquirement  by  the  city  was 
afterward  printed  in  pamphlet  form,  together  with  some 
of  the  verse  inspired  by  the  circumstances  of  the  gift, 
which  had  excited  such  great  interest. 

Another  of  the  activities  of  the  Journal,  which  it  has 
cultivated  to  an  unusual  extent,  has  been  the  aid  ren- 
dered in  recovering  lost  articles  and  restoring  them  to 
their  owners.  This  has  been  done  largely  through  the 
display  window,  which  has  been  an  institution  used  to 
exhibit  stray  articles  as  well  as  for  a  museum  of  curi- 
osities brought  in  by  people  who  considered  them  unusual. 

Ordinarily  owners  are  found  through  advertisements, 
though  the  parcel  found  in  the  street  may  be  taken  to  the 
police  or  that  left  in  a  car  turned  over  to  the  railroad  office. 
But  it  has  been  long  the  custom  in  Providence  to  deposit 
such  things  in  the  Journal  window,  where  the  loser  looks 
before  he  consults  the  police.  The  result  of  this  habit 
has  been  that  no  less  than  a  bushel  of  stray  keys  picked 
up  on  the  street  have  been  left  there  at  one  time  or  another, 
and,  as  the  unidentified  ones  have  been  kept,  there  are 
many  calls  from  those  who  would  fit  locks.  Keys  taken 
inadvertently  from  hotels  or  the  staterooms  of  steamboats 


136  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

have  been  repeatedly  returned,  while  detective  agencies 
have  been  notified  of  the  recovery  of  identification  badges. 
But  lost  articles  have  formed  a  small  part  of  the  col- 
lection in  the  Journal  office  window,  for  monstrosities 
of  all  sorts  have  been  added  to  the  collection— from  the 
doubleyolked  egg  to  the  fantastic  figure  formed  by  inter- 
lacing branches  of  a  tree.  Curiously  shaped  wasp  nests 
have  given  rise  to  intimations  that  they  typified  con- 
ditions prevailing  in  the  editorial  room,  Spiritualists  have 
shown  cloth  which  they  believed  had  been  woven  by 
unseen  hands,  while  almost  every  year  there  is  a  crop  of 
raspberries  in  October,  suggesting  June  to  the  shivering 
spectators.  Articles  exhibited  in  the  Journal  window 
have  sometimes  been  considered  worthy  of  place  in  a  per- 
manent museum  after  they  have  been  displayed  there  for 
a  time. 

The  objects  seen  in  the  counting-room  window  have 
often  been  those  about  which  some  controversy  has  arisen, 
as  when  the  wonderful  McNally  hen  reposed  there  after 
it  had  been  stuffed  for  preservation  in  the  Park  Museum. 
It  was  never  scientifically  proved  that  she  laid  twenty- 
nine  eggs  in  a  day,  but  she  had  been  visited  when  alive 
by  men  interested  in  biology  who  had  to  admit  that  she 
was  abnormally  fertile.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
doubts  of  the  incredulous,  Mrs.  McNally  certainly  be- 
lieved that  it  was  a  wonderful  hen;  and  as  for  the  rest 
of  the  community,  it  took  sides  on  the  question,  which 
seemed  to  be  of  absorbing  interest  for  some  time. 

In  dealing  with  incidents  connected  with  publishing  the 
Journal  it  is  worthy  of  record  that  the  method  of  furnish- 
ing lunches  to  its  employees  led  to  the  institution  of  the 


UNUSUAL  TRAITS  AND  ACTIVITIES.  1 37 

night  lunch  wagon,  now  such  a  familiar  sight  in  cities 
all  over  the  country.  When  Walter  Scott  was  peddling 
fruit  on  Providence  streets  in  1854  it  was  suggested  to 
him  that  there  was  a  chance  of  good  business  in  furnish- 
ing lunches  to  newspaper  workers  at  night,  when  the  eat- 
ing houses  were  usually  closed.  So  he  began  in  1858 
regularly  to  take  a  lunch  basket  at  night  to  the  office. 
He  also  found  employment  there  as  a  spare  hand  in  the 
press  room,  so  that  he  could  occupy  his  time  in  the  interval 
between  the  lunches  of  his  customers;  and  his  services 
were  especially  welcome  during  the  Civil  War,  when  men 
were  scarce. 

When  the  Journal  office  was  moved  from  the  Wash- 
ington building  to  the  Barton  block  in  187 1  Mr.  Scott 
found  that  increasing  business  had  rendered  his  push 
cart  inadequate  for  lunches;  so  he  covered  an  old  express 
wagon,  in  which  he  kept  his  coffee  hot  and  from  which  he 
dispensed  his  eatables.  For  sixteen  years  the  lunch  wagon 
served  the  Journal  men  regularly. 

But  Mr.  Scott  did  not  long  monopolize  the  business, 
for  Ruel  B.  Jones,  a  policeman  stationed  on  that  beat, 
had  watched  him  deal  out  sandwiches  and  concluded  that 
it  must  be  profitable.  So  he  adopted  the  idea,  building 
a  wagon  in  which  his  customers  could  stand  while  they 
enjoyed  their  lunch.  Samuel  M.  Jones,  a  nephew  of 
the  officer,  still  further  expanded  the  idea,  and  after  an 
experience  in  Worcester  he  went  to  Springfield,  where 
he  is  still  located.  Since  then  the  business  has  grown 
and  few  people  know  that  the  idea  originated  with  the 
man  who  furnished  the  first  night  lunches  to  employees 
on  the  Journal. 


138  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

For  nearly  twenty  years  readers  of  the  Journal  have 
seen  the  odd  title  "Northwest  Corner"  appearing  daily 
over  the  jokes  printed  in  the  upper  left-hand  corner  of 
an  inside  page.  A  moment's  reflection  has  probably  ex- 
plained the  meaning  of  this  heading  to  most  of  them,  and 
they  understand  that  the  name  was  suggested  by  the  loca- 
tion, since  that  would  be  the  point  of  the  compass  were  the 
newspaper  page  a  map.  The  position  of  the  joke  column 
in  the  Journal  may  have  been  facetiously  referred  to  as 
"The  Northwest  Corner"  before  1885,  but  it  was  not 
until  October  of  that  year  that  it  was  formally  named. 
The  origin  of  the  name  is  explained  by  Rev.  W.  F.  B. 
Jackson,  who  tells  how  he  suggested  it  to  John  W.  Barney 
one  night  when  the  question  of  a  suitable  title  came  up. 
He  told  Mr.  Barney  that  Mrs.  Jackson  had  been  calling 
the  paragraphs  by  that  name,  and  the  heading  was  soon 
after  adopted  by  the  paper. 

It  is  interesting,  in  connection  with  these  jokes,  that  Mr. 
Barney,  who  selected  them,  did  his  work  so  well  that  the 
change  was  noticed  when  he  left  the  paper.  When 
Charles  A.  Dana  of  the  New  York  Sun  met  the  Journal 
publisher  one  day  he  asked  him  if  the  man  who  had  been 
selecting  the  jokes  was  still  doing  the  work.  When  in- 
formed that  he  had  left,  Mr.  Dana  said  that  he  had  noticed 
a  change,  adding  that  he  had  always  read  the  column,  as 
he  regarded  it  as  one  of  the  best  collections  of  American 
wit. 

Perhaps  the  most  notable  feature  in  the  history  of  the 
Journal  was  the  attraction  which  drew  to  the  office  so 
many  conspicuous  Rhode  Island  public  men,  who  were 
first  interested  by  their  friendship  for  Senator  Anthony 


UNUSUAL   TRAITS   AND  ACTIVITIES.  1 39 

and  were  afterward  held  together  through  their  intimacy 
with  Mr.  Danielson.  The  influence  of  this  institution 
has  already  been  described  in  the  story  of  Senator  An- 
thony's life,  but  the  character  of  the  gatherings  can  be 
better  understood  by  a  mention  of  the  names  of  members 
of  that  distinguished  company.  As  the  Journal  repre- 
sented the  literary  circle  of  the  State,  its  members  first 
took  this  opportunity  for  a  social  interchange  of  ideas 
on  general  subjects.  As  many  of  them  were  lawyers, 
including  the  ablest  representatives  of  the  bar,  legal  ques- 
tions were  discussed ;  and  as  these  people  shaped  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  State,  politics  followed  naturally,  until  the 
gatherings  became  more  political  in  character.  Hardly 
any  one  of  them  was  invited,  but  each  man  learned  very 
soon  whether  he  was  welcome,  and  he  then  dropped  in 
Sunday  mornings  without  formality,  stopping  at  the  office 
on  the  way  home  from  church,  if  he  had  attended  religious 
services. 

Not  many  of  those  who  long  participated  in  these  meet- 
ings are  now  living,  but  the  traditions  that  have  been 
handed  down  to  their  sons  or  to  the  younger  men,  who 
would  naturally  have  succeeded  to  membership  had  the 
"classes"  been  continued,  would  form  a  notable  chapter  in 
the  history  of  the  State.  First  there  was  the  famous 
group  of  Senator  Anthony's  personal  friends,  who  had 
enjoyed  his  hospitality,  eaten  clams  with  him,  and  to- 
gether sipped  the  famous  "dark  brandy" — the  nectar 
that  Daniel  Smith  served  at  his  shore  resort  "palace." 

The  life  of  the  party  was  William  P.  Blodget,  the  in- 
surance agent,  who  had  a  well-deserved  reputation  as  a 
wit  and  raconteur.     Such  was  his  fame  as  "a  prince  of 


I40  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH  THE  JOURNAL. 

good  fellows"  that  some  of  the  incidents  associated  with 
his  name  are  no  doubt  apocryphal,  but  there  are  enough 
well-authenticated  stories  to  fill  a  volume.  Lawyers 
remember  how  Mr.  Blodget  deceived  the  innocent 
French  consul,  who  attempted  to  raise  money  in  Provi- 
dence for  an  international  steamship  line.  Mr.  Blodget 
pretended  to  subscribe  liberally,  but  the  pledge  was  found 
to  be  meaningless,  and  the  consul  ever  afterward  declared 
that  ''Monsieur  Blaujais"  was  a  "humping  bug."  A 
Hebrew  who  had  been  paid  twice  for  losses  by  the  burning 
of  his  store  applied  a  third  time  for  insurance,  but  was 
gravely  informed  by  Mr.  Blodget  that  the  book  of  He- 
brews was  closed. 

James  M.  Clarke  was  a  comrade  especially  intimate 
with  Senator  Anthony,  and  a  fellow  member  in  the  old 
Rhode  Island  Club.  He  was  a  handsome  man,  but  was 
reputed  to  be  averse  to  arduous  work.  When  chided  for 
this  love  of  ease,  and  urged  to  exert  himself  more,  ISIr. 
Clarke  would  point  to  his  pipe-bowl  on  the  table,  which  he 
had  attached  to  a  stem  several  feet  long,  and  reply  ''I  have 
exercise  enough  walking  over  to  fill  that  with  tobacco." 
The  ofi&ce  of  City  Solicitor  was  created  for  him,  and  he 
filled  it  for  a  long  period.  He  also  served  as  Register 
in  Bankruptcy,  but  when  a  place  on  the  United  States 
Circuit  bench  was  offered  him  he  declined  it. 

Charles  Hart,  who  long  survived  his  companions,  w^as 
a  member  of  this  inner  circle — Hart  with  the  melodious 
and  persuasive  voice  that  could  convince  juries  when 
elaborate  expositions  of  the  law  failed. 

N.  F.  Dixon,  2nd,  who  was  always  "Nate"  to  Senator 
Anthony,  had  been  his  classmate  at  Brown  and  was  his 


MEMBERS    OF    THE    FAMOUS    JOURNAL    SUNDAY    SCHOOL. 


William  P.  Blodgett, 
Charles  Hart, 
Thomas_'Nixon, 


Abraham  Payne, 
Henry  Howard, 
James  M.  Ripley. 


UNUSUAL   TRAITS   AND  ACTIVITIES.  141 

intimate  friend  ever  afterward.  When  Mr.  Dixon  was 
candidate  for  United  States  Senator  Gen.  Burnside  was  put 
forward  for  the  place  by  those  who  feared  that  Mr. 
Dixon  would  be  too  easily  influenced  by  Mr.  Anthony. 
For  a  time  people  expected  that  the  relations  between 
Mr.  Anthony  and  Gen.  Burnside  might  be  strained  by 
the  contest,  but  when  the  General  won  the  cordial  re- 
lations between  the  two  were  continued,  and  it  was  found 
that  an  attempt  to  discover  a  colleague  who  would  be 
ready  to  oppose  the  senior  Senator  had  been  vain. 

Two  other  close  friends  of  the  Senator  were  Judge 
Walter  S.  Burges  and  Stephen  Harris,  the  latter  a  con- 
fidant in  business  as  well  as  in  politics.  Judge  Burges 
was  a  Democrat,  but  difference  in  party  belief  was  never 
allowed  to  disturb  the  serenity  of  the  meetings.  He  was 
notable  in  physique,  kind-hearted,  and  shrewd  in  business 
relations. 

George  Rivers,  the  famous  wit,  did  not  belong  to  the 
''class  "  long  after  the  beginning  of  the  half-century,  but 
when  he  was  on  hand  he  was  generally  the  centre  of  the 
gathering.  Samuel  Ames,  the  Chief  Justice,  who  had  been 
a  collaborator  in  the  familiar  Dorriad  verse  with  Mr. 
Rivers,  Senator  Anthony,  and  others,  was  one  of  the  com- 
pany who  gave  the  "  Sunday  School  "  its  early  reputation, 
for  he  could  intelligently  discuss  most  questions  of  liter- 
ature, law,  or  theology.  Courteous  in  manner,  Judge 
Ames  walked  with  an  elastic  step,  was  careful  in  dress, 
and  somewhat  intolerant  of  a  dull  person. 

Judge  Sylvester  Shearman  of  Wickford  was  a  welcome 
guest  at  the  office,  where  his  eccentricities  were  enjoyed 
and  his  good  stories  added  much  to  the  zest  of  the  meet- 


142  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

ings.  He  was  not  always  particular  to  observe  the  pro- 
prieties of  the  court,  and  would  usually  go  to  members  of 
the  bar  to  notify  them  when  their  cases  were  likely  to  be 
called.  Before  the  new  Court  House  was  ready  the  ses- 
sions were  held  in  different  halls,  and  sometimes  in  law 
offices.  On  one  occasion  when  it  was  held  in  the  old 
Armory  on  Benefit  street  a  lawyer  asked  the  judge  how 
soon  it  was  likely  to  adjourn.  He  replied  that  as  he 
understood  that  2,000  pounds  of  gunpowder  were  stored 
in  the  cellar  ''the  court  may  rise  any  moment." 

A  familiar  face  in  the  company  was  that  of  Judge 
Elisha  R.  Potter,  smooth-shaven  and  refined,  and  his 
conversation  betrayed  a  close  knowledge  of  State  affairs 
which  he  had  learned  from  his  father,  once  its  leading 
politician.  Equally  conspicuous  was  the  pompadour  hair 
that  crowned  the  somewhat  stern  features  of  Judge  John 
P.  Knowles,  who  retired  from  active  practice  to  enjoy 
a  place  on  the  Shell  Fish  Commission,  only  to  return  to 
the  law  again  when  the  office  of  United  States  District 
Judge  was  ofTered  him. 

Judge  Thomas  Durfee,  known  to  his  associates  as 
''Tom,"  is  best  remembered  as  a  jurist,  but  he  distin- 
guished himself  as  an  orator  on  the  250th  anniversary 
of  the  founding  of  the  city.  Another  judge  who  was 
accustomed  to  drop  in  occasionally  was  George  A. 
Brayton,  uncle  of  Charles  R.  Brayton. 

The  Governors  who  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  Jour- 
nal included  Henry  Howard,  one  of  the  surviving  members 
of  the  coterie,  who  will  perhaps  be  better  remembered 
as  a  contributor  over  the  familiar  signature  "H.  H." 
Gen.  Burnside*made  himself  at  home,  especially  after 


UNUSUAL   TRAITS   AND   ACTIVITIES.  1 43 

his  distinguished  services  in  the  war,  but  military  subjects 
were  always  his  specialty  in  conversation.  That  refined 
and  accomplished  gentleman,  Governor  W.  W.  Hoppin, 
often  called  and  exchanged  ideas  v^ith  others,  vv^hile  in 
the  early  days  Governor  Sprague  used  to  call.  Lieutenant 
Governor  Samuel  G.  Arnold,  the  historian,  also  attended 
the  sessions  occasionally.  Henry  Lippitt,  Governor  and 
father  of  another  Governor,  had  his  share  in  deliberations 
about  conditions  in  the  State. 

James  F.  Simmons,  the  Johnston  cotton  manufacturer, 
was  considered  an  expert  on  the  tariff  question  when  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Senate,  and  he  was  often  appealed 
to  for  facts  or  opinions  about  the  effect  of  protection. 

Of  the  Providence  mayors,  Amos  C.  Barstow  was  too 
ardent  a  Prohibitionist  to  spend  much  time  in  the  more 
liberal  company,  but  he  found  that  the  information  he 
obtained  at  the  Journal  office  was  useful.  Mayor  Thomas 
A  Doyle  did  not  always  find  it  congenial  among  people 
who  had  been  attacking  his  municipal  plans,  but  he 
wanted  to  know  what  was  going  on  and  this  was  the  place 
to  learn  it. 

Congressman  Thomas  A.  Jenckes  was  usually  a  lis- 
tener when  he  called  at  the  office,  although  he  some- 
times roused  himself  from  his  fits  of  silence,  which  he 
spent  gazing  out  of  the  window.  While  in  Washington 
he  lived  with  Senator  Anthony,  and  the  two  men  agreed 
on  almost  everything  but  food,  for  the  Congressman  liked 
plain  living,  while  the  Senator  employed  a  chef.  Accord- 
ing to  a  guest  who  took  breakfast  with  them  one  morning, 
Mr.  Anthony  asked  Mr.  Jenckes  what  he  would  have  to 
eat.     "I'll  try  a  boiled  egg  with  the  shell  on,"  he  replied, 


144  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH  THE  JOURNAL. 

*'I  don't  believe  your  French  cook  can  get  inside  of  that." 
But  INIr.  Jcnckcs  did  not  lack  for  words  when  he  became 
interested,  and  he  sometimes  proved  a  charming  conver- 
sationalist. One  of  the  most  popular  members  of  the 
"Sunday  School"  was  Alfred  Anthony,  known  as  ''Uncle 
Alfred,"  who  prided  himself  on  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
trained  as  a  tanner,  a  trade  Gen.  Grant  followed.  The 
Senator  often  received  a  call  from  his  brother  Charles, 
especially  when  the  latter  was  collector  of  the  port. 

It  was  a  coincidence  that  the  two  active  medical  men 
who  took  part  in  the  conferences  were  both  homeopaths;  so 
they  could  join  forces  when  the  school  of  practice  was 
attacked.  Both  Dr.  J.  J.  DeWolf  and  Dr.  A.  H.  Okie 
were  prominent  in  the  profession  at  the  time. 

The  eccentricities  of  Ward  Cowing  are  still  remembered, 
and  his  manner  of  uttering  positive  statements  as  he 
tottered  around  the  room,  thumping  his  cane  on  the  floor. 
Charles  Sabin  stuttered  badly,  and  the  frantic  movements 
of  his  elbows  were  sometimes  a  picturesque  feature  of 
the  conferences  when  he  tried  to  address  them.  Wingate 
Hayes,  the  District  Attorney,  found  it  difiicult  to  over- 
come his  sensitiveness,  but  when  afterward  he  had  a 
prominent  part  in  municipal  matters  as  member  of  the 
City  Council  he  seemed  to  grow  more  communicative. 

Of  course  "Eph"  Jackson  and  Henry  W.  Gardner 
were  frequenters  of  the  office  when  they  were  postmasters 
of  Providence,  and  Mr.  Jackson  is  remembered  as  a  par- 
ticularly voluble  talker. 

An  occasional  visitor  during  his  prosperous  days  was 
Darius  Sessions,  proprietor  of  a  distillery.  His  experi- 
ence with  Mayor  Barstow  was  a  topic  for  many  a  dis- 


UNUSUAL   TRAITS   AND  ACTIVITIES.  1 45 

cussion  at  such  a  gathering,  for  an  attempt  was  made  to 
confine  him  in  the  Dexter  Asylum  and  he  sued  to  recover 
damages.  The  trouble  resulted  from  his  attempt  to 
secure  a  pass  to  inspect  the  asylum,  when  ]\Iayor  Bar- 
stow  added  an  order  to  the  superintendent  to  keep  him 
there,  after  he  had  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  the  place. 

Among  the  strictly  literary  men  who  were  accustomed 
to  stop  in  at  the  Journal  office  were  Albert  C.  Greene, 
the  author  of  "Old  Grimes,"  James  P.  Dunwell,  editor 
of  the  General  Advertiser,  and  Robert  Sherman  of  Paw- 
tucket.  The  last  named  was  once  United  States  Mar- 
shal, and  he  was  always  considered  one  of  the  best  of  story 
tellers. 

Dr.  Samuel  Boyd  Tobey  was  a  Quaker,  who  walked 
into  the  office  wearing  black  clothes  cut  in  the  garb  of 
the  society,  while  he  did  not  hesitate  to  use  the  prescribed 
form  of  the  pronouns  "thee"  and  "thou."  He  had 
retired  from  medical  practice,  and  then  was  managing 
the  Moses  B.  Jenkins  estate. 

One  of  the  most  agreeable  visitors  was  John  Oldfield, 
an  Englishman,  who  had  made  gardening  a  profitable 
business.  The  mention  of  the  name  of  Christopher 
Robinson  of  Woonsocket  brings  up  Know  Nothing  days, 
and  the  Sons  of  Malta,  in  which  he  was  so  active.  The 
latter  organization  was  once  prosperous  in  Providence, 
and  many  prominent  citizens  joined  in  the  ridiculous 
mysteries  attending  the  order. 

The  list  of  lawyers  who  might  be  found  there  included 
City  Solicitor  Charles  H.  Parkhurst,  Wilkins  Updike  and 
his  sons  Ccesar  and  Walter,  Hon.  William  H.  Potter,  who 
is   still   living   at   Kingston;  Jonah  Titus,  the  eccentric 


146  FIFTY  YEAES   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

Scituate  lawyer  and  Democrat;  James  M.  Ripley,  who  is 
still  active,  and  his  partner,  the  late  Mr.  B.  F.  Thurston, 
who  was  eminent  in  patent  litigation. 

Thomas  Nixon,  the  veteran  railroad  man,  who  still 
lives  to  recall  the  famous  gatherings,  remembers  that 
Samuel  M.  Noyes  was  one  of  the  members.  Mr.  Noyes 
had  been  a  sea  captain  and  dealer  in  foreign  merchandise, 
and  the  cigarettes  he  smoked  were  the  first  ever  seen  by 
many  of  those  present. 

Henry  L.  Fairbrother  of  Pawtucket  was  a  welcome 
visitor,  for  he  was  particularly  witty  and  quick  at  repartee. 
When  he  was  asked  who  was  the  greatest  man  in  Paw- 
tucket he  said:  *'Sayles  is  the  greatest  man  there  nights, 
I  am  there,  myself,  in  the  daytime." 

Other  habitues  of  the  editorial  rooms  have  been  Edwin 
C.  Mauran,  Adjutant  General  during  the  Civil  War; 
Rufus  Waterman,  the  manufacturer;  William  R.  Watson, 
State  Auditor;  Thomas  Jackson  and  Samuel  B.  Wheaton, 
the  merchants;  Geo.  F.  Wilson,  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Rumford  Chemical  Works;  Thomas  P.  I.  Goddard, 
Dr.  Isaac  Hartshorn,  the  rubber  manufacturer,  and 
Jas.  H.  Coggeshall,  United  States  Marshal.  Augustus 
Hoppin,  cousin  of  the  Governor,  was  an  artist  and 
traveler,  and  Allen  O.  Peck,  an  insurance  man.  William 
B.  Greene  known  as  "Shoe  Bill"  Greene,  to  distinguish 
him  from  others  of  the  same  name,  was  a  friend  of  Sen- 
ator Anthony,  and  frequently  visited  the  oflice  with  his 
companions.  There  were  at  least  four  W.  H.  Greene's 
in  town,  and  the  remaining  three  were  distinguished  as 
"Grocer  Bill,"  ''Lawyer  Bill,"  and  "Liquor  Bill,"  ac- 
cording to  their  occupations. 


UNUSUAL   TRAITS   AND  ACTIVITIES.  1 47 

On  the  death  of  Senator  Anthony,  the  "  Sunday  School  " 
sessions  lost  their  interest  to  many  and  the  attendance 
naturally  decreased,  for  Mr.  Danielson  was  dead  and  there 
was  no  successor  left  to  either  of  these  leaders.  Finally 
the  members  of  the  historic  institution  straggled  down 
to  the  office  one  morning  to  find  the  editorial  room  locked. 
The  post  ofhce  was  as  convenient  as  any  place  to  adjourn 
to,  and  for  a  few  months  an  attempt  was  made  to  con- 
tinue the  sessions  there,  but  with  a  Democratic  post- 
master, the  Republican  assistant  could  not  hope  to  rally 
Republicans  there  long;  so  the  Journal  "Sunday  School" 
passed  into  history. 

The  custom  of  distributing  turkeys  among  the  employees 
at  Thanksgiving  time  dates  back  to  1854,  when  Samuel 
McCoy  was  called  on  to  procure  these  essentials  for  the 
holiday.  This  distribution  has  been  continued  each  year 
since  that  time,  and  now  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
employees  are  provided  for  in  this  way.  Mr.  Davis  takes 
a  lively  interest  in  the  selection  and  distribution  of  the 
Thanksgiving  turkeys,  personally  attending  to  the  matter. 
But  this  is  only  one  of  the  ways  he  shows  his  interest  in 
the  employees.  When  the  coal  strike  in  1902  caused 
hardship  to  those  who  could  not  secure  fuel,  Mr.  Davis 
was  able  to  secure  some  firewood  early  in  the  season,  and 
this  he  apportioned  among  the  employees  who  could  not 
secure  fuel  elsewhere  at  any  price. 

Another  custom  prevailing  in  the  Journal  ofhce  has 
been  the  insurance  of  employees  against  sickness  and 
death  by  a  co-operative  company  in  the  ofhce.  In  this  all 
departments  participated,  from  the  editors  to  the  repor- 
ters, as  well  as  those  engaged  in  the  mechanical  depart- 


148  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH  THE   JOURNAL. 

ment.  Recently  the  plan  was  made  more  of  a  Journal 
company  matter  by  the  management  offering  to  pay  one- 
half  the  annual  premium  provided  the  insurance  was 
transferred  to  a  regular  company  engaged  in  that  busi- 
ness. While  this  did  away  with  the  necessity  of  the 
original  benefit  organization,  it  broadened  the  oppor- 
tunity of  those  seeking  such  protection  and  has  served  as 
another  evidence  of  the  interest  of  the  management  in 
the  welfare  of  the  employees. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  JOURNAL'S  CARRIERS. 

Many  Weil-Known  Business  Men  who  Served  in  that 
Capacity  when  Boys.— Mr.  Davis's  Interest  in  the 
Occupation  which  he  first  Undertook  when  he  came 
on  the  Journal.— Some  Reminiscences  by  the  older 
''  Boys."— The  New  Year's  Addresses. 


THE  JOURNAL'S  CARRIERS. 

Undoubtedly  the  interest  which  Mr.  Davis  takes  in  the 
carriers  is  augmented  by  the  fact  that  his  first  work  for 
the  Journal  fifty  years  ago  was  as  a  carrier.     Carriers' 
positions  were  much  sought  after  in  those  days,  and  the 
competition  for  places  made  it  possible  for  the  publishers 
to  select  some  of  the  brightest  boys,  many  of  whom  rep- 
resented excellent  families.     When  the  route  was  secured 
the  lads  endured  a  training  that  proved  valuable  later  in 
life;  so  most  of  them  developed  into  prosperous  citizens, 
especially  if  they  profited  by  the  lessons  in  self-reliance, 
industry,  and  punctuality  that  were  essentials  to  success  in 
delivering  papers.   Persons  have  been  accustomed  to  praise 
mail  carriers  and  have  been  glad  to  contribute  to  the  Christ- 
mas gifts  for  these  public  servants,  but  few  of  them  appre- 
ciate the  efforts  of  the  boys  who  have  to  start  out  before 
breakfast  and  to  trot  about  long  before  dawn  to  distribute 
the  morning  papers  in   season   to  attend   their  regular 
school  duties,  which  most  parents  consider  give  abundant 
occupation  to  their  sons  at  this  period  of  their  growth. 

When  daily  papers  were  first  issued  and  boys  were 
installed  in  the  new  business  of  delivering  copies  to  cus- 
tomers along  city  routes,  people  were  more  appreciative 
of  their  efforts  and  usually  rewarded  them  at  least  once 
a  year,  when  reminded  at  New  Year's  of  their  debt  to  the 
messengers  who  had  braved  all  conditions  of  weather  to 
leave  the  record  of  the  previous  day's  news  on  their  door- 


152  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

Steps  in  season  for  perusal  at  breakfast.  From  this  sense 
of  obligation  to  the  carrier  boys  started  the  custom  of 
distributing  a  New  Year's  address  as  a  hint  that  some- 
thing was  expected  as  extra  reward  for  service  rendered. 
Thus  after  the  papers  had  been  delivered  on  January  i 
the  boys  were  accustomed  to  go  over  their  routes  again 
and  to  leave  each  customer  a  sheet  on  which  verses  written 
for  the  occasion  by  some  friend  of  the  carriers  were 
printed.  The  subscriber  knew  what  this  meant,  and  his 
response  was  a  fee  that  varied  in  size  from  five  cents  to 
one  dollar,  so  that  boys  with  large  routes  often  collected 
as  much  as  fifty  dollars  on  a  New  Year's  morning.  If 
the  day  was  stormy  or  the  route  had  been  made  difhcult 
by  a  fresh  fall  of  snow,  the  pluck  of  the  boy  in  getting 
about  promptly  before  the  paths  were  trodden  was  likely 
to  be  rewarded  generously. 

The  carriers  were  obliged  to  fold  their  own  papers  then, 
and  they  also  had  to  wrap  them  in  covers  where  cus- 
tomers demanded  this  protection ;  so  the  task  of  prepara- 
tion was  considerable,  especially  as  they  had  to  wait  for 
production  from  slow  presses,  which  often  broke  down 
entirely.  In  order  to  be  prepared  for  such  chances  of 
delay  the  boys  usually  gathered  in  the  dingy  old  press 
room  at  least  half  an  hour  before  they  could  be  sure  of 
receiving  their  allotment  of  papers.  As  they  were  sup- 
plied in  the  order  of  their  arrival,  it  finally  became  the 
custom  for  the  first  boy  who  arrived  to  claim  the  best 
place  in  the  room  for  folding  his  papers  by  laying  his 
carrier  bag  on  the  particular  table  he  wished  to  appro- 
priate. There  would  then  be  a  chance  for  a  nap  while 
waiting,  but  it  was  not  often  possible  to  preserve  quiet 


■*^ 


J.  Bowers  Slade, 
Samuel  S.  Wilson, 


FORMER    JOURNAL    EMPLOYEES. 
Charles  J.  Wheeler. 


Joseph  Bucklin, 
Joseph  Burroughs. 


THE  journal's   CARRIERS.  153 

among  such  a  crowd  of  youngsters.  When  the  carrier 
boys  reached  the  office  before  the  pressman  had  started 
the  edition  there  was  an  opportunity  for  mischief  that 
the  stern  "Joe"  Buckhn  had  difficulty  in  repressing. 
BuckHn  had  charge  of  the  dehvery  of  papers  by  mail  or 
carrier,  and  he  was  the  target  for  pranks  that  only  active 
boys  could  devise.  He  would  have  his  wrappers  addressed 
for  the  mail  and  find  afterward  that  the  paste  he  had  to 
apply  in  such  haste  lacked  sufficient  adhesive  power  to 
seal  them,  as  some  insoluble  powder  had  been  substituted 
for  flour  in  its  preparation.  But  it  was  in  trying  to  smug- 
gle an  extra  copy  of  the  Journal  that  the  boys  exercised 
their  ingenuity,  no  doubt  being  challenged  by  Mr.  Buck- 
lin's  care  lest  an  additional  copy  should  be  taken  by  the 
carriers  when  they  were  allowed  only  one  for  personal 
use. 

The  patient  John  Holliday,  who  turned  the  wheel 
which  furnished  power  for  the  old  Adams  press,  also 
had  his  share  of  troubles  made  by  the  enthusiastic  boys 
hovering  about  the  room.  He  was  accustomed  to  change 
his  trousers  in  preparation  for  the  grimy  work,  and  oc- 
casionally the  wet  sponge  used  in  locking  up  the  forms 
was  slipped  into  the  seat  of  his  working  clothes  as  he  drew 
them  on,  much  to  his  embarrassment.  Those  were  the 
days  of  heavy  boots,  and  to  relieve  his  feet  Holliday  donned 
an  old  pair  of  slippers  as  he  mounted  the  platform  on 
which  he  stood  to  "grind"  off  the  edition.  He  was  sur- 
prised one  morning  to  find  the  slippers  carefully  laid  out 
for  him,  and  he  was  inclined  to  be  gratified  by  the  atten- 
tion until  he  tried  to  shift  his  feet  and  was  nearly  thrown 
over  the  fly  wheel,  for  they  were  immovable.     The  slippers 


154  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

had  been  carefully  tacked  to  the  floor.  Holliday  would 
doze  at  his  monotonous  work  in  turning  the  crank,  until 
awakened  by  some  such  disturbance  as  a  volley  of  paper 
wads  thrown  by  the  carriers. 

Samuel  S.  Wilson,  who  had  served  an  apprenticeship 
with  Mr.  ^Miller,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Journal,  had 
returned  from  New  Bedford  in  the  50's  and  was  manag- 
ing the  old  Adams  press  when  young  Davis  began  work 
as  a  carrier.     Mr.  Wilson's  exemplary  habits,  no  doubt, 
caused  merriment  among  the  more  convivial  members  of 
the  craft  at  the  time,  but  he  has  outlived  nearly  all  his  early 
associates,  and  for  this  long  life  he  gives  due  credit  to  his 
temperance   principles.     But   he   was   regarded   by   the 
boys  as  a  stern  moralist,  surrounded  by  printers  with 
less   scruples   about   indulgence.     He   often   related   the 
story  of  the  lesson  in  total  abstinence  he  received  when  a 
lad  participating  in  the  welcome  Providence  gave  to  Gen. 
Lafayette.     Light  wines  had  been  furnished  by  the  mem- 
bers of  a  militia  company,  and  he  drank  freely,  not  real- 
izing their  power  to  befog  the  brain,  until  he  found  him- 
self reeling.     He  then  started  in   alarm  for  his  home, 
where  his  disgusted  mother  promptly  put  him  to  bed. 
Undoubtedly  other  means  were  employed  to  enforce  the 
lesson,  besides  the  ordinary  restoratives,  when  he  awoke, 
for  he  always  said  that  the  incident  made  a  great  impres- 
sion on  him.     Mr.  Wilson  did  not  extend  his  prejudices 
against  conviviality  to  theatre-going,  for  one  of  the  car- 
riers remembers  that  his  first  theatre  ticket  came  from  the 
veteran  pressman,  and  he  still  recalls  the  scenes  in  the 
drama  which  he  watched  from  a  twenty-five-cent  seat  in 
the  gallery. 


THE  journal's   CARRIERS.  155 

It  is  the  memory  of  relations  with  the  pressman  and  the 
superintendent  of  the  carriers  that  the  boys  preserve  most 
distinctly  in  after  years,  but  incidents  on  their  routes 
after  they  left  the  office  also  made  their  impressions.  Once 
out  on  the  street,  the  responsibility  to  the  subscriber 
succeeded  any  anxiety  about  complying  with  the  rules 
in  the  office.  It  is  this  feature  of  accountability  to  the 
customer  as  well  as  to  employer  that  makes  a  careless 
boy  shrink  from  work  where  he  is  liable  to  be  criticised 
by  them  both.  Few  subscribers  have  receptacles  for 
their  papers,  and  when  it  is  only  necessary  to  drop  the 
sheet  on  the  step  or  piazza  of  the  house  complaints  about 
missing  Journals  are  frequent.  Sometimes  the  house- 
holder has  insisted  that  the  door-bell  should  be  rung 
each  morning,  so  that  an  early  riser  might  go  out  in  time 
to  save  his  paper.  One  Journal  carrier  was  annoyed  by 
complaints  from  a  very  exacting  customer  that  he  failed 
to  receive  his  paper,  and  he  was  asked  always  to  ring  the 
bell.  This  request  was  easily  complied  with,  for  the 
house  was  not  reached  until  the  rising  hour.  One  week 
the  boy  learned  that  the  customer's  son  was  very  ill;  so 
for  several  days  he  tried  to  ring  the  bell  "softly,"  and 
when  he  saw  crape  on  the  door  he  omitted  the  ringing 
entirely.  The  next  day  he  was  surprised  to  learn  that 
the  subscriber  had  complained  because  he  failed  to  ring 
the  bell  as  he  had  requested,  and  a  reprimand  was  written 
in  the  book  which  the  carriers  were  expected  to  examine 
each  morning  before  they  started  out.  Often  an  em- 
ployer would  watch  the  career  of  the  boy  who  brought 
the  paper,  with  the  idea  of  giving  him  a  lift  when  the  op- 
portunity was  afforded.     Thus  many  a  messenger  has 


156  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

been    unexpectedly   rewarded   by   an    appreciative   suId- 
scribcr  whom  he  had  pleased  by  his  fidelity  to  duty. 

The  position  of  the  carrier,  which  is  important  in  every 
newspaper  office,  has  had  especial  attention  from  the 
Journal  in  the  care  used  to  select  the  boys  for  routes  and 
in  the  interest  taken  afterward  concerning  their  welfare. 
The  desire  to  undertake  the  work  shows  an  interest  in 
the  paper  by  the  boy  or  his  family.  If  the  paper  had 
been  a  fixture  in  the  home,  interest  in  its  daily  issues  was 
increased  when  the  son  began  to  deliver  it  and  a  sense  of 
proprietorship  was  established.  As  a  rule  the  boys  are 
keen  critics  of  the  paper  when  they  glance  over  the  head- 
lines while  waiting  their  turn  in  the  distribution  from  the 
press.  The  sense  of  proprietorship  in  the  boy  leads  him 
to  defend  the  policy  of  the  paper  or  condone  its  short- 
comings. He  considers  himself  as  much  a  Journal  man 
as  any  other  employee,  and  the  chances  are  that  he  will 
show  a  reporter's  enthusiasm  in  getting  the  first  or  the 
best  story  of  an  event  which  comes  his  way. 

But  the  carrier's  functions  are  growing  more  limited 
owing  to  the  development  of  the  business  of  the  news- 
dealer, who  is  doing  the  work  that  formerly  fell  to  the 
publisher.  The  evening  editions  of  papers  are  now 
handled  almost  exclusively  by  newsdealers,  for  only  six 
boys  are  employed  by  the  Journal  Company  to  deliver 
Bulletins  to  subscribers,  while  the  morning  Journal, 
with  a  smaller  circulation,  requires  thirty-two  carriers. 
Whether  the  increase  of  mail  facilities  and  the  perfection 
of  news  agencies  may  make  it  profitable  for  the  pub- 
lishers to  dispense  entirely  with  their  carriers  is  not  yet 
clear,  but  the  newsboy  remains  a  ])arl  of  the  newspai)er 


•»'3|     !&>*■-• 


v.    AlGL'SIUS    BUCKLIN, 

John  Randolph, 


THE    JOURNAL    CARRIERS. 
William  D.  Maktin, 


James  T.  P.   Bucklin, 
John  Tetlow. 


THE   journal's   CARRIERS.  1 57 

office  to-day.  Comparisons  with  the  character  of  the 
boys  who  formerly  served  in  this  capacity  with  those  who 
do  the  work  to-day  lead  only  to  the  conclusion  that  self- 
reliant  boys  still  seek  this  method  of  earning  their  clothes 
or  even  helping  pay  family  expenses. 

It  was  when  help  was  needed  in  the  counting  room 
in  1856  that  young  Davis,  who  had  established  a  repu- 
tation for  punctuality  and  method  as  a  carrier,  was  taken 
into  the  ofhce  of  the  Journal,  where  Charles  J.  Wheeler 
had  long  presided  alone.  He  was  a  rosy-cheeked  lad 
then,  and  was  considered  especially  promising.  Soon  he 
was  put  in  charge  of  the  carrier  force,  with  whose  work 
he  was  so  familiar.  In  the  fifty  years  that  have  followed 
the  sympathy  which  Mr.  Davis  formed  for  his  associate 
carriers  has  been  extended  so  as  to  include  a  small  army 
of  men  who  have  come  into  the  service  of  the  Journal  in 
this  capacity  and  are  now  filling  positions  of  trust  in  the 
world.  To  Mr.  Davis  they  all  continue  to  be  "Journal 
boys"  and  as  such  they  are  affectionately  remembered, 
so  that  they  never  need  introductions  when  they  call  to 
renew  old  acquaintance.  In  no  way  does  his  memory 
so  conspicuously  assert  itself  as  in  recalling  the  names 
of  former  carriers  or  in  following  their  careers  after 
leaving  the  office.  This  is  not  merely  mechanical  recol- 
lection, as  many  a  carrier  can  testify,  but  a  genuine  con- 
cern in  their  welfare  that  may  be  shown  by  some  favor 
extended  in  business,  and  certainly  by  a  friendly  interest 
that  counts  them  all  members  in  a  growing  family.  The 
list  of  representative  men  who  as  boys  trudged  the 
streets  carrying  bags  loaded  with  newspapers  would  be  a 


158  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

long  one,  for  almost  every  lad  had  at  least  an  ambition 
to  do  such  work  and  many  secured  the  opportunity. 

To  go  back  of  the  service  of  Mr.  Davis  as  a  carrier 
would  recall  names  of  men  with  whom  he  has  not  been 
associated,  but  such  members  of  the  printer's  trade  as 
Samuel  S.  Wilson  still  live  and  keep  alive  traditions  of 
newspaper  ofhces  that  are   constantly  being  compared 
with    modern    conditions.     He    lived    in    the    home    of 
''honest"  John  Miller,  to  whom  he  was  apprenticed,  and 
his  duties  included  the  care  of  the  Miller  baby  besides 
the  regular  chores.    While  not  a   carrier  himself,   Mr. 
Wilson  came  in  contact  with  the  boys  who  had  the  first 
routes   established   by   the   Journal,  and   his  experience 
with  Benjamin  C.  Simmons,  one  of  that  number,  is  one 
of  the  traditions  of  the  office.     Wilson  lived  where  the 
Rhode  Island  Historical  Society  building  now  stands,  and 
one  night  he  was  called   into   the  dormitory  across  the 
street  by  a  Brown  student,  who  asked  him  to  keep  the 
Commencement  illuminations  going  in  his  window.    Wil- 
son soon  tired  of  his  job,  and,  deciding  to  go  home,  he  threw 
out  the  board  holding  the  candles  and  sent  the  chair 
after  it.     Simmons  was  passing  under  the  window  with 
his  bundle  of  papers,  and  the  chair  struck  him  on  the 
head,  greatly  frightening  Mr.  Wilson,  who  did  not  learn 
until  sometime  aftervvard  whom  he  had  injured.     For- 
tunately the  injuries  did  not  prove  serious,  and  Mr.  Sim- 
mons lived  long  to  enjoy  the  distinction  of  having  carried 
copies  of  the  first  issue  of  the  Journal. 

John  M.  Rounds  seems  to  deserve  the  credit  of  being 
the  oldest  living  Journal  carrier  to-day,  for  he  had  routes 
back  in  1833.     The  papers  were  delivered  to  him  from 


THE  journal's   CARRIERS.  1 59 

the  old  Whipple  building  on  College  street,  and  Mr. 
Rounds  remembers  how  the  forms  on  the  Adams  press 
were  inked  by  John  Mellen,  while  John  Ellsworth  fed 
the  machine  as  it  ground  out  the  edition  at  the  rate  of 
eight  hundred  impressions  per  hour.  Mr.  Rounds  received 
only  $1.25  a  week  for  his  services  as  carrier,  and  the  col- 
lections from  New  Year's  addresses  did  not  add  much 
to  this  sum. 

Of  those  who  did  business  with  the  Journal  as  carriers 
when  the  ofhce  was  in  the  Washington  building,  Charles 
E.  Gorman,  the  lawyer,  is  perhaps  the  oldest,  for  he  be- 
gan when  only  six  years  old  to  work  for  his  father,  who 
had  a  newsroom  at  Turk's  Head.  One  night  he 
was  returning  from  school  when  he  was  offered  five 
papers  and  told  he  might  keep  the  profits  if  he  could  sell 
them.  He  was  so  pleased  with  the  profits  that  he 
wanted  to  continue  the  work,  and  his  father  installed  him 
as  a  regular  carrier.  His  first  connection  with  the  Journal 
office  was  the  delivery  to  Senator  Anthony  each  day  of 
the  Boston  and  New  York  newspapers  as  soon  as  they 
arrived  in  Providence.  The  appearance  of  Mr.  Anthony 
and  the  atmosphere  of  the  editorial  room  made  a  great 
impression  on  the  lad;  and  although  the  two  men  dif- 
fered politically,  as  Mr.  Gorman  grew  to  manhood,  the 
lawyer  always  entertained  the  greatest  respect  for  the 
man  who  wielded  such  an  influence. 

Just  before  the  period  of  Mr.  Davis's  service  for  the 
paper  there  were  seven  carriers  on  the  force,  of  whom  four 
represented  families  that  retained  routes  for  several 
years,  passing  them  down  to  different  members.  All  four 
Randolph  boys  handled  the  paper — Richmond   Kidder, 


l6o  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

Col.  George  E.,  John,  and  Peyton  H.— all  of  them  soldiers 
in  the  Civil  War.  Col.  George  E.  Randolph  is  living  in 
Denver,  Col.,  while  John  is  associated  with  R.  L.  Greene 
on  Washington  street.  When  John  Randolph  delivered 
his  papers  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Dexter  Asylum  on  the 
East  side  only  a  few  scattering  houses  had  been  built  near 
that  institution;  but  he  has  reason  to  remember  two  of 
these,  for  it  required  a  long  walk  to  reach  the  homes  of 
John  Stimson  on  Angell  street  and  of  Charles  F.  Tilling- 
hast  on  the  corner  of  Angell  and  Hope  streets. 

Of  the  thirteen  Bucklin  children  born  in  the  old  home- 
stead on  Arnold  street,  four  succeeded  in  securing  em- 
ployment in  the  Journal  office,  and  Joseph  H.  Bucklin 
remained  there  many  years  after  giving  up  his  route, 
so  that  his  connection  with  the  paper  covered  about  forty 
years.  After  a  considerable  interval  John  C.  and  James 
T.  P.  followed  Joseph,  and  their  cousin,  F.  Augustus 
Bucklin,  joined  the  force.  J.  T.  P.  Bucklin,  who  was 
recently  harbor  master,  remembers  the  trick  the  boys 
played  on  his  brother  ''Joe,"  whom  even  the  tics  of  re- 
lationship did  not  protect  from  attacks  by  his  younger 
brothers.  On  the  route  which  James  had  along  South 
Main  street  there  then  stood  some  of  the  most  substantial 
residences  in  the  city  as  well  as  leading  business  buildings, 
and  Gen.  Greene,  Zachariah  Tucker,  and  J.  H.  Ormsbee 
were  among  his  customers.  The  snowbanks  of  those 
days  seem  to  him  higher  than  any  that  have  gathered 
since,  and  he  has  vivid  recollections  of  plowing  through 
unbroken  streets  amid  drifts  that  surmounted  cowhide 
boots  and  soaked  the  feet,  unprotected  by  rubbers. 
F.  Augustus  Bucklin  had  the  route  along  Benefit  street. 


THE    JOURNAL    CARRIERS. 
Rev.  C.  C.  Cragin, 


Benjamin  E.  Kinsley, 
Harry  C.  Curtis, 


George  M.  Baker, 
Dr.  Edward  S.  Allen. 


THE  JOURNAL  S   CARRIERS.  i6l 

and  he  had  to  deliver  papers  to  three  of  the  four  houses 
then  standing  on  Governor  street.  His  customers  in- 
cluded the  Spragues,  the  Goddards,  and  Judge  Ames; 
so  the  opportunities  for  New  Year's  collections  were  the 
envy  of  other  carrier  boys.  The  opportunity  of  mount- 
ing the  steps  or  entering  the  grounds  did  not  usually 
give  the  carriers  the  privilege  of  eating  fruit  found  in  door- 
yards,  but  Mr.  Bucklin  remembers  one  of  the  subscribers 
with  gratitude  to-day,  for  this  man  told  him  to  help  him- 
self to  all  the  pears  he  could  get.  The  dainties  the  carriers 
would  bring  to  the  office  for  Christmas  breakfasts,  to  be 
devoured  before  dawn  in  the  dingy  press  room,  and  the 
hilarity  attending  these  basket  picnics  are  among  the 
pleasant  memories  of  those  days  which  Mr.  Bucklin  still 
treasures. 

Three  of  the  Earle  brothers  whose  name  is  associated 
with  the  Earle  &  Prew  express  business  were  once  car- 
riers of  the  Journal,  and  Charles  R.  Earle  gives  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  their  experience:  "My  eldest  brother, 
John  D.  Earle,  had  the  South  Main  street  route  after 
S.  T.  Browne  left  it  to  enter  the  Navy.  My  brother 
William  H.  Earle  came  on  in  1857,  and  I  succeeded  him 
on  the  North  Main  street  route,  taking  in  the  vicinity  of 
Canal,  Smith,  Charles,  and  Orms  streets.  I  had  about 
fifty-five  subscribers  on  this  route,  and  the  last  paper  was 
left  at  the  old  State  Prison.  In  the  latter  part  of  1859 
I  left  the  route  in  the  care  of  Henry  Allen,  a  cousin  of 
Dr.  Allen,  but  I  resumed  the  work  in  1862.  The  first 
person  to  greet  me  with  a  'good  morning'  was  Job  Winsor, 
an  eccentric  man,  who  will  be  remembered  as  the  ex- 
hibitor of  a  whale  as  a  curiosity.     I  often  encountered 


1 62  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH  THE  JOURNAL. 

'Janey, '  the  colored  man,  who  was  always  looking  for  a 
job  (at  least  the  inscription  on  his  wagon  would  indicate 
that).  On  State  street  Capt.  Joslin  would  be  watching 
for  me,  and  if  the  morning  was  cold  he  would  generally 
urge  me  to  come  in  and  drink  something  warm.  Mr. 
Davis  was  substitute  for  Joseph  Bucklin  when  he  was 
absent.  We  would  make  it  warm  for  Bucklin  when  the 
press  broke  down,  and  I  remember  that  at  one  time  this 
occurred  quite  often.  Sometimes  he  lost  his  temper 
over  our  jokes,  and  that  was  just  what  the  boys  wanted. 
He  would  sometimes  threaten  to  discharge  us  all,  but  the 
next  morning  he  would  greet  us  very  cordially.  Mr  Davis 
was  a  young  man  in  the  counting  room,  and  always  paid 
us  when  it  was  time  to  call  for  our  money.  The  boys 
used  to  look  forward  to  New  Year's,  and  Mr.  Bucklin  was 
always  very  good  to  see  that  our  addresses  were  written 
in  time.  The  people  for  whom  I  left  the  Journal  were 
generally  more  liberal  than  they  were  on  some  of  the 
routes.  I  enjoyed  getting  up  in  the  morning  and  also 
the  pleasure  of  carrying  the  Journal.  We  used  to  have 
heavy  snowstorms,  and  I  remember  seeing  drifts  from 
six  to  eight  feet  deep  on  South  Main  street  as  well  as 
along  my  route." 

Asa  F.  Bosworth  was  the  eldest  of  three  brothers  who 
took  routes,  and  when  he  began  in  1862  he  had  to  pass 
among  the  neglected  stones  of  the  old  Proprietor's 
burial  ground,  which  has  since  been  converted  into  Hay- 
ward  Park.  This  experience  was  not  very  pleasant  for 
the  lonely  lad  on  dark  mornings.  His  brothers,  John 
C.  and  Fred  S.  Bosworth,  followed  him. 

But  the  most  interesting  instance  of  routes  long  held 


THE   journal's   CARRIERS.  163 

in  a  family  was  the  achievement  of  the  six  Baker  brothers, 
who  kept  up  a  succession  from  1874  to  1896  with  either 
the  Journal  or  the  Bulletin,  a  period  of  over  twenty-two 
years.  The  beginning  was  made  by  George  M.  Baker, 
the  metal  refiner,  who  passed  his  route  on  through  Frank 
N.,  E.  G.  Jr.,  Harold  D.,  Walter  S.,  and  Ernest  C.  Baker, 
and  the  boys  not  only  earned  their  spending  money,  but 
were  generally  able  to  save  enough  to  buy  the  clothes 
they  wore.  Similar  successions  have  perhaps  been  main- 
tained by  other  families,  but  the  Bakers  can  safely  claim 
the  most  unique  record  in  this  respect. 

Some  of  the  staunchest  friends  of  the  paper  may  be 
found  among  those  who  thus  served  it  in  their  boyhood, 
for  the  favorable  impressions  made  in  those  early  years 
are  lasting,  especially  when  accompanied  by  such  rigor- 
ous discipline  as  early  rising.  Such  a  friend  of  the  Journal 
is  Benjamin  E.  Kinsley,  for  the  father  took  the  paper 
from  the  date  of  its  first  issue,  and  the  son  had  it  follow 
him  in  his  travels  all  over  the  world.  Mr.  Kinsley  retains 
vivid  recollections  of  the  office  on  Washington  Row  and 
the  timid  way  in  which  he  would  climb  the  dark  stairs 
to  the  press  room,  fearing  each  minute  lest  he  should 
encounter  the  form  of  some  drunken  man  who  had 
crawled  in  there  to  sleep  off  his  debauch.  The  carriers 
of  one  period  remember  an  incident  in  Mr.  Kinsley's 
career  which  led  to  his  discharge.  Mr.  Kinsley  does 
not  hesitate  to  relate  the  story,  and,  although  he  says  he 
would  not  think  of  repeating  such  a  trick  now,  the  reve- 
lation it  gave  him  then  of  Mr.  Anthony's  character  was 
some  compensation  for  his  punishment.  Mr.  Kinsley 
was  as  active  as  any  in  the  lively  set  of  carriers,  and  when 


164  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

he  found  the  other  boys  waiting  for  the  pressman  one 
morning,  he  accepted  a  ''dare"  to  change  the  types  in 
the  form  so  as  to  give  a  ridiculous  turn  to  an  announce- 
ment in  the  advertising  column.  The  consciousness  of 
what  he  had  done  weighed  on  him  that  day  so  heavily 
that  he  was  not  surprised  later  when  he  saw  "Joe" 
Bucklin  enter  his  father's  shoe  store  with  a  very  grave 
face.  He  was  escorted  into  the  august  presence  of  Senator 
Anthony  to  be  examined  about  the  offence,  but  it  did  not 
require  much  questioning  to  bring  out  the  facts,  for  he 
was  then  ready  to  confess  it  all.  "Of  course  we  cannot 
keep  you  after  you  did  this,"  said  Mr.  Anthony,  but  in 
such  a  kindly  way  that  it  seemed  to  take  some  of  the 
sting  out  of  the  sentence  of  discharge.  Mr.  Anthony 
even  asked  him  to  stay  and  break  in  his  successor;  so  he 
thinks  that  he  was  treated  pretty  leniently,  when  he  con- 
siders the  character  of  the  offence.  The  late  Daniel  W. 
Ladd  was  also  implicated  in  this  scrape  and  was  dis- 
charged with  Kinsley.  The  Ladd  and  Kinsley  routes  were 
then  consolidated  and  given  to  Henry  B.  Ladd,  who  is 
still  employed  by  the  paper. 

W.  D.  Martin,  who  entered  the  employ  of  the  Lippitts 
over  forty  years  ago  and  still  works  for  their  company, 
succeeded  Mr.  Davis  when  he  gave  up  his  early  morning 
walks  for  a  place  in  the  telegraph  office.  This  route 
extended  up  Westminster  street  toward  Cranston,  and 
ended  on  the  hill  overlooking  Olneyville.  It  was  Mr. 
Martin  who  took  advantage  of  the  deep  snow  which 
reached  nearly  to  his  waist  one  New  Year's  morning  to 
excite  the  sympathies  of  his  customers  by  his  prompt  de- 
livery under  such  obstacles  and   his  immediate  return 


THE  journal's   CARRIERS.  1 65 

for  the  distribution  of  addresses.  He  remembers  that 
his  extra  effort  was  well  rewarded.  While  most  of  the 
houses  where  deliveries  were  to  be  made  were  accessible  by 
well-defined  lines  of  communication,  there  always  seemed 
to  be  one  or  two  customers  difficult  to  reach.  Thus  Martin 
remembers  that  he  had  to  cross  the  Dexter  Training 
Ground  to  take  a  single  copy  to  the  step  of  a  house  on 
Cranston  street. 

John  Tetlow,  head  master  of  the  Boston  Girls'  High 
and  Latin  Schools,  retains  his  sympathy  for  the  carriers, 
for  he  worked  in  that  capacity  when  a  boy,  and  he  re- 
calls his  experiences  as  follows : 

''I  j&x  the  date  of  my  service  by  the  date  of  the  appear- 
ance of  Donati's  comet,  which  in  the  autumn  and  winter 
of  1858  was  a  conspicuous  object  in  the  eastern  sky  as  I 
left  my  father's  house  on  Cabot  street  at  4  o'clock  in 
the  morning  to  take  my  way  to  the  Journal  office.  My 
route  began  at  the  bridge,  and  after  leaving  the  business 
section  of  the  city  included  between  the  river  and  Wey- 
bosset  street  extended  westward  to  the  end  of  Friendship 
and  Pine  streets.  I  was  in  attendance  at  the  Providence 
High  School  at  the  time,  under  the  instruction  of  Edward 
H.  Magill,  whom  I  remember  as  the  best  teacher  I  ever 
had.  As  I  often  carried  a  school  book  along  with  me  and 
prepared  a  lesson  as  I  delivered  the  papers  along  my 
route,  I  am  afraid  that  I  sometimes  in  my  absent-minded- 
ness missed  a  subscriber  and  brought  on  myself  a  well- 
merited  rebuke  from  Joseph  Bucklin,  who  had  charge  of 
the  room  in  which  we  carriers  received  our  papers  from 
the  press  and  folded  them  before  proceeding  over  our 
several  routes.     For,  when  a  subscriber  made  a  com- 


1 66  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

plaint  at  the  upstairs  office,  Mr.  Wheeler  or  Mr.  Bucklin 
entered  the  complaint,   together  with  a  suitable  exhor- 
tation   or   objurgation,    as    the   case    might    be,    in    a 
large  book  which  we  were  expected  to  consult  on  our 
arrival  at  the  folding  room  every  morning.     As  the  re- 
buke administered  to  each  one  was  open  to  the  inspection 
of  all,  it  not  seldom  happened  that  a  tardy  comer  would 
be  greeted  by  his  fellow  carriers  with  jeering  remarks 
as  he  entered  the  folding  room  and  would  learn  from  their 
remarks  that  there  was  warm  language  awaiting  his  in- 
spection in  the  order  book.     The  carriers  whom  I  best 
remember  as  serving  at  the  same  time  with  me  were 
Richard  M.  Atwater  (Brown,   1865),  Edward  Atwater, 
William  D.  Martin,  Joshua  M.  Addeman,  and  Henry 
S.  Latham— the  first  three  being  carriers  of  the  Journal, 
the  fourth  of  the  Post,  and  the  last  of  the  Transcript. 
We  were  paid  once  a  week,  as  I  remember  that  I  received 
every  Saturday  afternoon  from  Mr.  Wheeler  in  the  upstairs 
office  the  munificent  sum  of  $1.25.     I  should  add,  how- 
ever, that  on  New  Year's  day  we  carried  to  our  patrons 
a  New  Year's  address,  written  as  I  remember  in  one  of 
the  years  of  my  service  by  Mr.  Rodman  of  the  firm  of 
Moulton  &  Rodman.     On  that  day  I  used  to  gather  in  a 
harvest,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  for  the  contributions  of  the 
subscribers  along  my  route  amounted  to  from  $15  to  $25. 
To  this  day,  as  the  result  of  my  early  experience,  I  feel  that 
there  is  a  bond  of  sympathy  between  me  and  the  boy  who 
brings  my  daily  paper;  and  I  regret  that  I  do  not  have 
the  opportunity  to  cheer  his  heart  on  New  Year's  day, 
owing  to  the  lapse  of  the  New  Year's  addresses,  by  a 


THE  journal's   CARRIERS.  1 67 

token  of  my  appreciation  of  the  important  service  he 

renders  me." 

Arthur  W.  Dennis,  treasurer  of  the  Elmwood  mills, 
who  was  a  carrier  for  the  Journal  in  i860  and  1861,  had 
a  route  which  took  him  along  North  Main  street,  up 
Charles  street  and  over  Smith's  hill,  and  he  delivered  his 
last  paper  at  the  old  State  Prison  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Cove.  Mr.  Dennis  has  reason  to  remember  Mr.  Davis, 
who  was  able  to  secure  for  him  a  clerkship  with  Adjutant 
General  Mauran  in  war  times. 

The  Cragin  family  furnished  three  brothers  to  the 
carrier  force,  and  Rev.  Charles  Chester  Cragin  contributes 
these  incidents  to  the  chapter  of  experiences,  writing  from 
Campbell,  Cal.: 

"I  cannot  recall  when  I  carried  the  Providence  Journal, 
but  1861  was  a  part  of  the  time,  for  I  have  a  most  vivid 
rememberance  of  profound  feeling   when   I  distributed 
the  paper  telling  of  the  firing   on  Fort  Sumter,  though 
I  had  little  thought  then  that  it  was  the  beginning  of  a 
war  in  which  I  should  serve  six  months  as  a  private  and 
two  years  as  a  captain.     I  carried  it  also  in  1859,  for  I 
remember  reading  in  it,  as  I  was  folding  the  papers  for 
my  route,  that  I  had  taken  a  second  Greek  and  a  second 
Latm  of  the  president's  premiums  offered  to  members  of 
the  Freshman  class  in  Brown  University.     I  said  to  my- 
self, 1  know  the  result  sooner  than  any  other  who  competed 
for 'the  prizes,'  and  I  called  Richard  Atwater's  attention 
to  the  paragraph.     My  brother,  H.  B.  Cragin,  carried  the 
Journal  at  one  time,  for  I  recall  what  he  said  about  a  tur- 
key dinner,  which  he  attended  as  a  carrier.     I  also  think 
that  my  brother,  W.  P.  Cragin,  was  a  carrier  for  a  season. 


1 68  riFTY   YEAIIS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

Another  event  which  stands  out  vividly  in  my  mind  was 
on  a  bleak,  wintry  morning,  before  daylight,  when  I  was 
on  my  way  to  the  Journal  office.  I  was  near  the  foot  of 
Sabin  street,  and  had  been  running  to  get  warm,  when  the 
wind  caught  me  out  of  breath  and  forced  me  to  turn 
around  and  to  stand  struggling  and  gasping  for  breath, 
as  if  my  last  hour  had  come.  As  I  recall  it,  I  used  to  rise 
at  half  past  three,  depending  on  an  alarm  clock  to  awaken 
me.  The  first  time  I  heard  the  clock  it  was  startling, 
like  the  crack  of  doom,  and  I  leaped  at  once  out  of  bed. 
But  I  found  afterward  that  if  I  lingered  awhile  before 
rising  it  sounded  less  and  less  distinctly,  until  finally  I 
ceased  to  hear  it,  till  I  went  back  to  my  first  experience  and 
obeyed  it  instantly.  It  seemed  to  me  like  the  voice  of 
conscience,  which  must  be  heeded  if  it  would  be  heard." 

Walter  B.  Harrington,  the  restaurant  proprietor,  be- 
gan carrying  papers  as  assistant  to  Mr.  Tetlow,  and  re- 
ceived only  fifty  cents  a  week  for  this  work;  but  he  says 
that  the  boys  were  glad  to  assist  in  that  way  to  secure  a 
regular  route,  so  great  was  the  demand  for  carrier  po- 
sitions. When  the  Civil  War  was  precipitated  by  the 
attack  on  Fort  Sumter  he  was  notified  to  be  on  hand 
Sunday  morning,  as  the  Journal  would  issue  an  extra, 
which  he  afterward  learned  was  the  first  of  the  kind 
since  the  Mexican  War.  Copies  sold  so  well  that  he 
cleared  nearly  $io  by  his  day's  sale. 

Occasionally  boys  were  allowed  to  sell  papers  them- 
selves, and  William  P.  Chapin  built  up  a  route  in  this  way. 
Mr.  Chapin  admits  that  he  was  a  timid  lad  and  disliked 
to  start  out  alone  on  dark  mornings;  so  he  strapped  a 
lantern  to  his  belt  for  company.     Early  in  liis  career  the 


John  S.  WniTEHorsE, 
Walter  A.  Presbrev, 


THE    JOURNAL    CARRIERS. 
James  E.  Tillinghast, 


William  V.  Polle\s 
Franklin  A.  Snow. 


THE  journal's   CARRIERS.  169 

soldiers  were  in  camp  on  the  Dexter  Training  Ground, 
training  for  the  war,  and  he  obtained  permission  to  de- 
liver papers  to  them  each  morning.  Mr.  Chapin  was 
much  impressed  by  the  personality  of  James  B.  Angell,  who 
always  had  a  pleasant  word  for  any  member  of  the  force 
he  met  on  the  office  stairs.  John  A.  Arnold,  secretary 
of  the  Conant  Thread  Company,  was  a  contemporary 
of  Mr.  Chapin,  and  he  built  up  a  route  of  Bulletin  sub- 
scribers. 

James  E.  Tillinghast,  now  secretary  of  the  Equitable 
Insurance  Company,  became  a  carrier  in  the  stirring  days 
of  1863,  and  continued  the  work  until  1869,  being  put  in 
charge  of  the  carriers  the  latter  part  of  the  time.  He 
thinks  the  experience  is  especially  desirable  for  boys,  as 
they  not  only  profit  by  the  discipline  but  are  brought 
into  contact  with  business  men  who  may  be  watching 
the  promising  ones  with  the  idea  of  intrusting  them  with 
greater  responsibility  some  day.  He  believes  that  he 
paved  the  way  for  his  own  life  work  by  making  the  ac- 
quaintance of  a  customer  who  was  an  insurance  agent. 
Louis  A.  Budlong,  the  carpenter  and  contractor,  suc- 
ceeded to  Mr.  Tillinghast's  route  when  the  latter  took 
an  office  position,  and  Mr.  Budlong's  brother,  Walter 
Budlong,  followed  him. 

John  S.  Whitehouse,  manager  of  the  Rhode  Island 
Concrete  Company,  can  trace,  more  directly  than  Mr. 
Tillinghast,  the  choice  of  his  business  life  to  his  experi- 
ences as  a  carrier.  When  Enoch  Shattuck  died  Mr. 
Whitehouse  was  asked  by  the  senior  Shattuck  whether 
he  knew  about  the  business  they  had  conducted,  and  he 
soon  made  an  offer  to  Mr.  Whitehouse  for  him  to  take  the 


lyo  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

management.  When  Mr.  Whitehouse  asked  in  sur- 
prise how  he  happened  to  be  selected,  Mr.  Shattuck  re- 
minded him  of  his  carrier  days,  when  he  had  the  run  of  a 
jewelry  shop  with  permission  to  sell  Bulletins  to  em- 
ployees at  their  work  late  in  the  afternoon.  "I  noticed," 
said  Mr.  Shattuck,  "that  you  quietly  attended  to  business 
and  left  the  place  when  you  were  through,  without  having 
disturbed  the  men,  and  I  concluded  that  you  had  some 
elements  of  success.  " 

Dr.  E.  S.  Allen,  who  was  a  carrier  from  1865  to  1872, 
appreciates  the  dangers  to  which  a  young  boy  is  exposed 
by  such  strenuous  work  and  irregular  hours,  which  in- 
terfere with  normal  sleep.  As  a  rule  the  carrier  boys  have 
about  three  hours  less  sleep  than  their  companions,  and 
he  remembers  that  they  used  to  drop  off  dozing  in  the 
hot  schoolrooms  during  the  afternoon.  "While  I  ap- 
preciate the  value  of  the  training,"  says  Dr.  Allen,  "I 
would  never  allow  a  son  of  mine  to  be  a  carrier,  for  it  is 
too  hard  work  to  be  safely  undertaken  at  that  tender  age. 
The  boys  who  have  to  rise  at  3  o'clock  to  begin  work  on 
their  routes  do  not  have  a  chance  to  make  up  the  lost 
sleep,  for  it  is  rare  that  they  retire  earlier  than  their  com- 
panions. They  start  out  without  warm  food  and  usually 
without  proper  nourishment,  for  the  lunch  hastily  eaten 
generally  consists  of  a  doughnut  or  cracker.  Sometimes 
a  subscriber  would  take  pity  on  a  carrier  and  offer  him  a 
cup  of  hot  coffee,  but  such  instances  were  rare." 

One  of  Dr.  Allen's  associates  as  carrier  was  Franklin  A. 
Snow,  who  carried  the  Journal  from  1867  to  1872.  Mr. 
Snow  has  had  an  interesting  experience  since,  for,  after 
working  four  years  in  the  office  of  the  city  engineer,  he  went 


THE   journal's   CARRIERS.  I71 

to  South  America  to  help  build  a  railroad  around  the  falls  ■ 
of  the  river  ISIadeira,  i,6oo  miles  up  the  Amazon.  After 
two  years  in  Brazil  he  went  to  Colorado  to  make  railroad 
surveys.  In  the  latter  part  of  1885  he  went  out  for 
a  year  as  chief  engineer  for  the  Dutch  contractors  at  the 
Culebra  cut  of  the  Panama  Canal,  and  also  worked  for 
the  American  Contracting  and  Dredging  Company  at 
Colon. 

Another  friend  of  Dr.  Allen  was  Henry  B.  Dean,  of 
the  firm  of  Dean  &  Shibley,  brokers.  He  began  by 
helping  Dr.  Allen  carry  his  papers,  and  when  established 
as  a  regular  carrier  he  was  paid  $1.10  a  week,  with  fifteen 
cents  extra  when  a  supplement  was  issued,  which  had  to  be 
folded  into  the  regular  paper.  The  loneliness  of  the  work 
impressed  Mr.  Dean,  but  occasionally  he  was  cheered 
by  a  customer  who  was  up  and  waiting  for  his  paper. 
Registrar  Douglas  of  Brown  University  was  often  found 
in  the  dark  hall  of  the  dormitory,  ready  to  receive  the 
Journal ;  and  Samuel  Noyes  is  remembered  with  gratitude, 
for  he  occasionally  had  a  cup  of  hot  coffee  ready.  The 
rule  "first  come,  first  served"  was  observed  in  dealing 
out  the  papers,  and  even  then  it  was  often  necessary  to 
urge  the  boys  to  be  on  hand  earlier.  The  office  was  par- 
ticularly anxious  on  a  holiday  to  have  the  papers  started 
out  early,  and  Mr.  Dean  says  that  just  before  Thanks- 
giving one  year  it  was  announced  that  the  first  boy  to 
arrive  on  that  morning  would  receive  a  prize.  By  a  special 
effort  Mr.  Dean  was  able  to  reach  the  office  first,  and  a 
neatly  bound  package  was  handed  him,  which  proved 
to  contain  the  champion  ear  of  corn  that  had  been  on 
exhibition  in  the  Journal  window. 


172  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

•  Charles  C.  Newhall,  who  was  a  carrier  from  1868  to 
1870,  remembers  the  strife  to  outwit  ''Joe"  Bucklin  and 
secure  some  extra  copies  of  the  paper  without  his  know- 
ing it.  M.  S.  Dwycr,  now  superintendent  of  the  news 
and  mechanical  departments  of  the  Journal,  began  his 
service  for  the  Journal  in  1872  as  a  carrier  and  continued 
in  that  work  for  two  years.  Maj.  Carver  Rowland 
was  a  carrier  for  nearly  two  years  before  he  received  his 
appointment  as  a  cadet  at  West  Point  in  1872,  and  Maj. 
L.  V.  Kennon  also  distributed  papers  at  about  the  same 
time. 

Among  the  merchants  who  look  back  with  satisfaction 
to  their  work  as  carriers  are  David  S.  and  Horatio  Fraser, 
coffee  dealers,  who  are  both  impressed  with  the  hard- 
ships which  confronted  boys  who  had  to  rise  so  early  and 
face  all  sorts  of  weather.  David  came  on  in  1873,  and 
he  remembers  that  after  a  severe  flood  he  was  once 
obliged  to  walk  along  the  upper  cross  bar  of  a  picket  fence 
to  reach  his  subscribers'  houses  on  Daboll  street.  Horatio 
remembers  that  one  morning  when  the  snow  made  trav- 
eling difficult,  his  father  had  to  help  him  finish  his 
route. 

Many  a  Brown  graduate  began  to  earn  money  in  pre- 
paration for  college  as  a  carrier  for  the  Journal,  but  few  of 
these  continued  the  work  after  undertaking  college  duties. 
In  this  respect  Edward  C.  Bixby,  assistant  librarian  at 
the  Providence  Library,  is  an  exception,  for  he  not  only 
continued  carrying  Journals  until  half-way  through  college, 
but  he  built  up  a  route  of  Bulletins  besides.  As  he  lived 
two  miles  from  the  college,  he  estimates  that  he  had  to 
walk  about  twenty-five  miles  a  day  in  all,  a  task  which 


THE   journal's   CARRIERS.  1 73 

few  students  would  be  willing  to  undertake  in  addition 
to  their  studies. 

Harry  C.  Curtis,  who  succeeded  to  Mr.  Bixby's  route, 
had  a  dog  which  generally  accompanied  him  in  the 
morning,  and  he  trained  the  animal  to  leave  the  paper  on 
Lockwood  street,  thereby  saving  himself  a  good  many 
steps.  While  the  New  Year's  addresses  were  discon- 
tinued by  Journal  carriers  in  1867,  Mr.  Curtis  re- 
members that  some  customers  wished  to  keep  alive  the 
custom  of  rewarding  faithful  boys,  so  they  left  word  at 
the  office  the  night  before  Christmas  that  a  present  would 
be  ready  for  the  carrier  if  he  called  the  next  day  when  he 
had  finished  his  route.  While  the  boys  could  not  ask 
for  fees,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  accepting  them  at 
New  Year's  time,  and  one  year  Mr.  Curtis  says  that  he 
received  $5  from  a  subscriber  who  told  him  that  after 
noting  his  arrival  each  morning  for  six  months  he  found 
that  he  had  not  varied  ten  minutes  in  that  period. 

W.  A.  Presbrey,  of  A.  A.  Presbrey  Sons  &  Co.,  who  after- 
ward graduated  from  Brown,  thinks  that  his  was  one  of 
the  hardest  routes,  for  it  took  him  an  hour  and  three- 
quarters  to  go  over  it.  When  Eugene  C.  Myrick,  now 
of  the  Silver  Spring  Bleachery,  applied  for  a  carrier's 
position  Mr.  Davis  feared  that  he  would  be  too  small  to 
do  the  work ;  but  he  secured  the  opportunity  to  try,  and 
he  succeeded  so  well  that  he  continued  his  route  until 
half  way  through  his  course  in  Brown,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1890.  Mr.  Myrick  was  known  as  the  boy 
with  the  dog,  and  he  taught  his  St.  Bernard  to  run  down 
side  streets  and  drop  papers  on  doorsteps.  Many  a 
morning  Mr.  Myrick  would  find  the  snow  so  drifted  that 


174  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

it  would  be  difficult  to  reach  the  top  step  while  carrying 
two  bags  of  papers;  but  the  dog  could  generally  wallow 
through  the  snow,  carrying  the  paper  in  his  mouth. 
William  Y.  Polleys,  contractor  with  the  R.  H.  Tingley 
Co.,  had  a  route  on  the  East  Side  from  1882  until  1885, 
and  is  glad  to  consider  himself  eligible  to  the  company  of 
Journal  boys. 

The  list  of  Journal  carriers  might  be  considerably  ex- 
tended, but  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  secure  a  com- 
plete list  of  them.  Enough  representatives  of  each  decade 
during  the  last  ten  years  have  been  found  to  bring  out  the 
character  of  the  work  and  to  recall  some  of  the  names  of 
men  who  form  the  members  of  the  Journal  family  in  whom 
Mr.  Davis  has  taken  an  especial  interest. 

The  story  of  the  carriers  would  not  be  complete  without 
further  reference  to  the  New  Year's  addresses  they  were 
for  many  years  permitted  to  distribute.  These  were  gen- 
erally in  the  form  of  verse,  which  was  printed  on  a  single 
page,  varying  in  size  according  to  its  length  or  ambitions 
of  the  paper,  although  the  publishers  did  not  always 
have  a  part  in  their  preparation.  The  lines  usually  con- 
tained some  hint  of  the  object  of  the  missive,  and  there  was 
almost  always  an  obsequious  use  of  congratulations, 
suggesting  that  the  time  for  substantial  appreciation  of 
the  messenger  service  had  come.  The  custom  originated 
in  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  and  was  adopted 
pretty  generally  throughout  the  country,  until  it  led  to 
abuses  and  had  to  be  discontinued  by  self-respecting 
newspapers.  The  author  of  the  verse  usually  withheld 
his  name  and  identity,  but  in  rare  cases  he  signed  the 
missive.     The  events  of  the  year  were  reviewed,  especially 


THE   journal's   CARRIERS.  1 75 

in  such  strenuous  times  as  the  Civil  War,  while  occasion- 
ally the  rhyme  took  on  a  religious  tone  of  thankfulness 
for  blessings  and  observations  on  the  inexorable  flight  of 
time. 

The  New  York  and  Philadelphia  papers  followed  the 
custom,  and  exhibited  considerable  rivalry  in  attempts 
to  make  each  offering  outshine  that  of  competitors. 
Illustrations  were  used,  some  of  them  serious,  but  more 
frequently  pretending  to  be  humorous,  representing  such 
scenes  as  the  toper  swearing  off.  The  New  York  Herald, 
one  year,  illustrated  incidents  in  the  chronicle  of  the  pre- 
ceding twelve  months,  which  seemed  to  have  been  noted 
for  fires,  as  three  out  of  four  crude  pictures  were  animated 
representations  of  fire  departments  battling  with  burning 
buildings. 

When  the  example  set  by  the  carriers  was  adopted  by 
such  public  servants  as  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
boys,  who  had  Christmas  addresses  prepared,  the  revolt 
began,  and  the  enterprising  tradesmen  gave  the  custom 
a  death  blow  when  they  copyrighted  "Newsmen's"  or 
"Carriers'  Union"  addresses  and  offered  them  for  sale 
in  the  news-stands  throughout  the  country.  Originally 
the  newspapers  recognized  the  custom,  and  often  called 
attention  to  the  addresses  on  New  Year's  morning  by 
such  a  paragraph  as  this,  which  appeared  in  the  Journal : 

"The  carriers  wish  to  say  that  in  the  course  of  the 
morning  they  will  wait  on  their  patrons  with  the  com- 
pliments of  the  season  done  in  verse." 

But  the  subscribers  who  did  not  contribute  in  response 
to  the  appeals  were  either  slighted  or  they  imagined  that 
they  were,  and  in  1867  the  salaries  of  the  Journal  carriers 


176  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

were  increased  and  they  were  forbidden  longer  to  dis- 
tribute addresses. 

One  of  the  first  addresses  seen  in  Providence  was  that 
issued  by  the  Columbian  Phoenix  in  1810,  which  began 
with  the  sentiment: 

"  Such  is  the  Fashion  of  the  time, 

A  carrier  now  must  deal  in  rhyme." 

At  first  newspapers,  in  Rhode  Island  at  least,  were  dis- 
posed to  vary  the  form  of  the  addresses,  which  sometimes 
appeared  as  calendars,  the  table  for  each  month  sur- 
rounding the  verses,  while  the  sheet  was  encircled  by  a 
border  which  was  very  elaborate  for  those  days.  While 
much  that  was  written  was  mere  doggerel,  the  attempt  to 
secure  real  poetry  was  sometimes  rewarded,  as  when  ^Irs. 
Sarah  Helen  Whitman  or  William  Pabodie  condescended 
to  do  something  to  please  the  boys.  Probably  Henry 
C.  Whitaker  was  called  on  as  frequently  as  any  of  the 
makers  of  verse  to  write  these  addresses,  for  his  sympathies 
could  easily  be  enlisted  and  he  wrote  with  comparative 
ease.  In  an  emergency  one  year  some  one  suggested 
that  ex-^Iayor  Rodman  could  write  poetry,  and  he  did 
so  well  that  he  was  asked  year  after  year  to  summarize 
local  events  in  verse,  which  often  contained  pointed 
allusions  to  familiar  characters  or  topics  of  discussion. 
Only  once  in  the  addresses  discovered  in  Providence 
could  the  name  of  the  author  be  found  printed  with  the 
verse.  When  Mrs.  Whitman's  sister  wrote  for  the  daily 
Post  boys  in  1865  she  ended  her  lines  as  follows: 

"  Wishing  our  patrons  all  a  happy  year, 
With  social  pleasures  and  sumptuous  cheer. 


THE   JOURNAL  S   CARRIERS.  1 77 

The  carrier  stands,  awaiting  his  reward, 

The  author  takes  her  leave  and  leaves  her  card." 

S.  A.  Power. 

Occasionally  an  attempt  was  made  to  have  the  appeal 
more  personal  by  using  the  carrier's  name,  as  when  the 
''New  Year's  address  of  Charles  E.  Gorman,  the  news- 
boy, "  appeared  in  1855,  while  later  a  Massachusetts  paper 
allowed  "the  business  record  of  the  printer's  boy"  to  be 
distributed  among  its  subscribers.  The  purpose  of  the 
message  was  not  always  expressed  as  frankly  as  it  is  in 
these  lines: 

'  And  should  your  feelings  lead  you  to  bestow, 
In  generous  impulse — fifty  cents  or  so — 
On  us — the  carriers  of  your  daily  news— 
We  shouldn't  have  the  heart — I'm  sure — to  refuse." 

When  the  inexperienced  or  uncultivated  poet  wooed  the 
muse  the  inspiration  did  not  always  supply  a  word  that 
rhymed  with  Journal,  and  this  accounts  for  the  frequent 
use  of  the  word  diurnal,  even  in  the  addresses  of  successive 
years.     Thus  one  year  the  epistle  contained  these  lines: 

"  Through  each  new  born  year,  midst  cold  and  heat, 
Our  visits  are  made  diurnal 
And  our  hearts  are  cheered  by  the  smile  we  meet 
From  the  friends  of  the  daily  Journal." 

A  few  years  later  the  same  ending  appeared  to  the 
lines: 

"  To  our  kind  friends  and  patrons  of  the  Journal 
Whose  doors  we  meet  in  our  rounds  diurnal." 

And  again: 

"With  a  sudden  start  the  carrier  woke 
To  find  himself  in  office  of  the  Journal 
With  papers  ready  for  his  rounds  diurnal." 


178  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

Some  idea  of  the  character  and  diversity  of  these  ad- 
dresses may  be  gathered  by  a  comparison  of  the  one  written 
in  1855,  which  was  of  average  abihty  and  characteristic 
of  a  majority  of  epistles,  with  that  of  1867,  which  was  the 
last  one  delivered  by  the  Journal  carriers.  A  stanza  in 
the  address  of  1855  reads  as  follows: 

"  Oh,  no  sir,  not  a  bill,  though  I  confess 
You  might  expect  one  just  at  this  time, 
No,  not  a  bill,  but  only  my  address, 
My  customary  gift  in  annual  rhyme." 

Here  is  a  part  of  the  legend  told  at  length  as  a  farewell 
in  1867: 

"  The  stars  had  set  in  the  wintry  skies. 
And  the  dawn  like  an  angel  of  paradise 
Had  stolen  through  the  midnight  dungeon's  bar 
And  left  the  gates  of  the  morning  ajar. 

"  Scarce  were  the  Christmas  greetings  said, 
Scarce  were  the  Christmas  roses  dead, 
When  the  New  Year  came  with  an  eager  tread 

With  locks  unshorn, 

Like  a  God  new  born 
To  reign  in  the  old  year's  stead. 

"New  Year's  morning,  the  legends  say, 
Like  some  seneschal  old  and  gray. 
Back  to  the  dwellings  of  living  men, 
The  ghost  of  the  old  year  comes  again. 
Little  he  recks  of  the  crowded  street, 
Little  he  cares  for  the  hurrying  feet. 
In  ghostly  gait,  with  footsteps  fleet, 

He  goes  unseen. 

Like  a  shade  I  ween, 
The  new  born  year  to  meet. 

"  The  stars  had  set  in  the  wintry  sky, 
When  the  weird  train  came  hurrying  by. 
Only  seen  in  the  dusky  street 
By  the  newsboys  pacing  their  wonted  beat. 


THE  journal's  CARRIERS.  1 79 

List  to  the  old  year's  solemn  tread, 
List,  oh!  list!  to  the  words  he  said, 
As  he  stood  twixt  the  living  and  the  dead, 

And  blessed  the  heir, 

And  prayed  the  care 
Of  heaven  upon  his  head. 

The  old  king  laid  his  hour-glass  down, 

And  took  from  his  temples  the  hoar)'  crown, 

And  stood  in  the  ghostly  silence  dumb, 

With  the  misty  shape  of  the  things  to  come. 

Blithely  the  new  year  raised  his  head, 

'Welcome  the  crown  and  the  scythe,'  he  said, 

'The  proud  shall  be  humbled,  the  poor  shall  be  fed; 

In  God's  sweet  peace. 

The  earth's  increase 
Shall  give  the  people  bread.'  " 

Other  newspapers  continued  the  custom  of  New  Year's 
addresses  long  after  it  was  discontinued  by  the  Journal, 
and  even  now  Mr.  Davis  receives  annually  syndicate  offers 
of  such  literature,  but  they  are  out  of  the  fashion.  Still 
while  they  lasted  Providence  papers  furnished  addresses 
as  creditable  as  any  to  be  found.  After  Mr.  Rodman 
died  the  task  of  writing  addresses  seemed  to  fall  on  S.  N. 
Mitchell's  shoulders.  He  had  composed  popular  songs, 
so  he  turned  off  effective  rhymes  for  the  boys  for  many 
years.  But  he  has  lived  to  see  the  custom  die,  with  the 
change  in  the  "fashion  of  the  time." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
COLLECTING  THE  NEWS. 

Revolution  produced  by  the  Telegraph.— Difficulties  first 
experienced  by  this  method  of  Transmission. — Euro- 
pean News  by  Steamer  before  the  Cable  was  laid. — 
The  Journal's  system  of  Collecting  Election  Returns.— 
Its  Resources  tested  by  Flood  and  Storm.— Success- 
ful Experiments  with  the  Wireless  method  of  trans- 
mitting Dispatches. 


COLLECTING  THE  NEWS. 

When  the  transmission  of  European  news  under  the 
ocean  was  made  possible  by  the  completion  of  the  At- 
lantic cable  a  subscriber  of  the  Journal  remarked  to 
Senator  Anthony,  "You  give  us  daily,  for  a  breakfast 
zest,  news  from  nearly  every  part  of  the  globe."  "Yes," 
was  the  reply,  "but  the  end  is  not  yet."  In  connection 
with  this  remark  it  is  significant  that  a  few  years  later  the 
Senator  introduced  a  bill  in  Congress  for  the  protection 
of  a  company  which  wanted  to  transmit  news  through 
the  air  by  sound  waves.  Of  course  he  was  ridiculed,  but 
while  nothing  came  of  that  suggestion  it  might  be  con- 
sidered a  foreshadowing  of  the  wireless  telegraph  of  1902, 
which  his  paper  was  one  of  the  first  to  use  in  its  news 
service. 

Before  the  days  of  the  telegraph  the  obstacles  to  any 
attempt  to  systematize  the  collection  of  general  news  were 
very  great  and  little  pi*ogress  could  be  made,  yet  enter- 
prising papers  used  trains  and  steamers  and  established 
expresses  to  railroad  stations  and  employed  boats  to  meet 
incoming  steamers  before  they  reached  port.  The 
Journal  arranged  to  get  the  important  news  from  Boston 
by  means  of  special  messenger,  who  sometimes  covered 
the  distance  in  four  hours.  Considerable  improvement 
in  the  prompt  collection  of  general  news  was  secured  by 
an  arrangement  with  the  editor  of  the  Boston  Atlas  to 
work  in  combination,  and  this  proved  especially  useful 


184  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

in  collecting  returns  of  a  national  election.  New  York 
was  then  a  great  news  centre,  as  it  is  to-day,  and  it  was 
considered  a  great  achievement,  when  the  railroad  was 
opened  to  Boston,  that  the  news  of  the  day  could  be  put  in 
type  at  night  and  shipped  East  by  train,  which  could  be 
intercepted  at  Danielsonville,  Ct.,  and  the  matter  be  re- 
ceived here  in  season  for  insertion  in  the  Journal  the  fol- 
lowing morning.  Before  that  arrangement  was  made 
most  of  the  general  news  items  printed  in  Providence  had 
appeared  the  morning  before  in  the  New  York  city  papers. 

The  Boston  and  New  York  Telegraph  Company  built 
a  line  in  1846  connecting  the  two  cities  by  wires,  which 
passed  through  Worcester  and  not  by  way  of  Providence. 
Then  the  express  service  to  Boston,  which  had  been  es- 
pecially useful  in  conveying  European  news  brought 
across  the  water  by  steamers,  could  also  handle  the  tel- 
egraph news  that  centred  in  New  York  city.  Senator 
Anthony,  in  the  meantime,  realizing  the  need  of  a  wire 
to  Providence,  became  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
Rhode  Island  Magnetic  Telegraph  Company  which 
built  a  line  along  the  railroad  from  Providence  to  Wor- 
cester. 

Before  the  consolidation  of  the  lines  there  were  sev- 
eral companies  doing  business  and  dividing  the  profits, 
so  that  the  rivalry  between  them  was  sharp.  In  Provi- 
dence the  House  system  had  an  ofhce  in  the  Washington 
building,  the  Bain  company  was  stationed  on  Canal 
street,  nearly  opposite  Washington  Row,  while  the  Morse 
company  office  was  on  South  Main  street.  Bidding  for 
business  was  so  active  that  the  Bain  and  House  operators 
kept  champagne  ready  to  serve  customers,  and  each  of 


COLLECTING   THE   NEWS.  1 85 

the  three  profited  by  accidents  that  continually  happened 
to  their  rivals. 

Benjamin  F.  Ashley,  now  residing  in  New  York  city, 
was  connected  with  the  office  in  Washington  building 
which  used  the  House  machine,  then  considered  very 
efficient  for  receiving  messages.  This  machine  printed 
the  dispatches  out  on  paper  ribbon  in  a  single  line  of 
capital  letters.  A  wheel,  turned  by  hand,  furnished  the 
power  for  the  operator,  who  manipulated  a  set  of  keys. 
In  the  Bain  system  a  paper  disc  was  treated  with  chem- 
icals so  it  received  the  current  and  the  dots  and  dashes 
left  their  impress  on  it  as  the  paper  revolved.  The 
Morse  receiver  was  much  like  the  ticker  of  to-day,  except 
that  it  recorded  only  dots  and  dashes  instead  of  capital 
letters. 

The  House  system  claimed  the  advantage,  because 
there  was  no  necessity  for  the  operator  to  transcribe  the 
code;  but  no  doubt  the  other  offices  made  corresponding 
claims  of  superiority.  The  newspaper  offices  preferred 
the  House  system,  for  they  could  give  dispatches  out  as 
copy  just  as  they  came  to  the  telegraph  office.  The  cus- 
tom was  to  measure  out  three  sections  of  the  ribbon  be- 
tween the  outstretched  hands  and  to  put  them  on  the  hook 
for  one  "take"  to  the  compositor,  who  was  expected  to 
fill  in  the  missing  letters  and  prepare  suitable  headings. 

All  these  devices  finally  gave  way  to  the  Morse  system 
and  its  code,  and  the  rival  companies,  which  had  been 
engaged  in  commercial  warfare,  were  merged  one  by  one. 
While  the  receiver  takes  his  messages  now  on  the  type- 
writer, the  first  operators  developed  speed  in  manuscript 
and  soon  became  expert  in  rapid  writing.     Walter  P. 


1 86  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

Phillips,  who  afterward  became  manager  for  the  United 
Press  Association,  was  long  an  operator  for  the  Western 
Union  company  in  Providence,  and  he  made  a  record  in 
1868  by  receiving  by  sound  and  writing  out  in  one  hour 
2,731  words  sent  to  Providence  from  Boston,  which  is  an 
average  of  a  little  over  forty-five  words  a  minute. 

Credit  was  given  the  House  system  in  Providence  for 
early  recognition  of  the  fact  that  electricity  caused  the 
display  of  Northern  lights,  for  some  scientists  had  pre- 
viously supposed  that  they  were  the  reflection  of  sun- 
light on  ice  packs.  Mr.  Ashley  noticed  that  every  flash 
in  the  sky  seemed  to  throw  the  instruments  into  disorder; 
so  he  called  the  manager's  attention  to  the  matter,  which 
was  reported  for  the  papers.  All  these  features  of  the 
telegraph  interested  Mr.  Davis,  while  a  messenger  boy 
in  the  office. 

The  telegraph  had  solved  the  problem  of  collecting 
domestic  news  promptly,  and  the  great  increase  in  its 
volume  led  to  the  various  news-gathering  associations 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  exchange  and  the  consequent 
prevention  of  unnecessary  work.  Such  an  organization 
was  formed  by  the  New  York  newspapers  in  185 1,  but 
it  was  not  until  1856  that  the  Associated  Press  came  into 
being  to  gather  the  world's  news.  But  Europe  was  still 
a  great  way  off,  for  its  news  had  to  come  by  steamers, 
which  required  two  or  three  weeks  to  cross  the  ocean. 

The  incoming  steamers  usually  touched  at  Halifax, 
and  the  news  packages  brought  by  them  were  dropped 
off  there.  Then  the  Associated  Press. would  send  the 
contents  of  the  European  mail  to  New  York  city  in  cipher, 
which  was  there  transcribed  and  sent  out  by  telegraph 


COLLECTING   THE   NEWS.  1 87 

all  over  the  United  States.  It  is  hardly  possible  now  to 
conceive  of  a  time  when  news  from  the  other  half  of  the 
globe  was  from  two  to  three  weeks  old  when  published 
and  the  papers  kept  standing  such  leadlines  as  "Three 
Days  later  from  Europe"  to  mark  the  interval  that  had 
elapsed  since  the  arrival  of  the  previous  steamer.  Busi- 
ness men  nervously  waited  for  market  reports,  while  the 
public  suspense  can  be  imagined  when  the  United  States 
was  not  certain  whether  such  episodes  as  the  Mason- 
Slidell  incident  meant  war  with  Great  Britain.  Hence 
when  word  came  "steamer  sighted  off  Halifax,"  all  the 
newspaper  offices  would  keep  open  for  the  news. 

Cable  messages  were  exchanged  across  the  Atlantic  in 
1866,  but  the  first  messages  were  largely  congratulatory, 
much  as  were  the  words  which  Marconi  professes  to  have 
recently  transmitted  across  the  ocean  by  his  wireless  sys- 
tem. By  the  time  the  Franco-Prussian  war  broke  out 
the  cable  service  was  well  perfected,  so  that  fairly  full 
reports  could  be  transmitted. 

Nearly  twenty  years  had  intervened  between  the  tel- 
egraph and  the  ocean  cable,  and  it  was  fully  ten  more  be- 
fore the  telephone  came  into  practical  use.  When  an 
instrument  for  conveying  sounds  over  a  wire  was  exhibited 
at  the  Centennial  in  1876  it  was  considered  little  better 
than  a  plaything;  but  more  capital  was  available  for 
its  perfection  than  when  the  telegraph  was  put  to  public 
use  and  a  practical  telephone  service  was  soon  developed. 

The  only  local  news  considered  worthy  of  much  space 
in  the  early  days  was  the  election  returns,  which  were 
always  collected  with  thoroughness,  and  it  was  expensive 
at  first  to  get  them  from  all  parts  of  the  State  promptly. 


1 88  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

Samuel  A.  Coy  of  Westerly  is  remembered  as  a  collector 
of  election  returns  from  Washington  and  Kent  counties, 
and  he  sometimes  used  a  locomotive  on  the  Stonington 
line,  which  messengers  could  meet  along  the  route.  With 
no  regular  reporters,  the  paper  depended  largely  on  its 
friends  for  local  matters  of  interest;  but  there  soon  came 
evidences  of  system  in  publishing  the  record  of  sessions 
of  the  Assembly  or  the  City  Council,  which  like  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Congress  were  considered  of  the  first  im- 
portance and  were  given  almost  entire. 

In  the  reporting  of  elections,  a  work  in  which  Mr.  Davis 
has  taken  an  active  part  during  all  his  years  of  service  in 
the  ofhce,  the  Journal  is  unique  among  all  the  newspapers 
of  the  land  in  that  with  its  own  staff,  increased  somewhat 
for  the  occasion,  it  collects  the  returns  from  every  voting 
district  in  an  entire  State.  This  has  been  practicable 
because  of  the  size  of  the  State,  and  necessary  because 
during  nearly  all  its  career  it  had  been  the  State's  only 
morning  paper.  For  many  years  also, — until,  that  is, 
the  establishment  of  a  State  Returning  Board  in  1901— its 
compilation  of  the  vote  for  State  officers  was  the  only  one 
made.  The  law  in  those  days  made  the  canvassing  and 
adding  of  the  precinct  officers'  returns  a  duty  of  the 
General  Assembly.  But  when  the  committee  to  which 
the  duty  was  delegated  found  itself  confronted  with  the 
many  bundles  of  ballots  it  was  accustomed  to  content 
itself  with  taking  the  figures  from  the  columns  of  the 
Journal  of  the  day  after  election  and  report  the  results 
accordingly.  In  effect,  the  Journal's  count  was  thus 
the  official  count  by  which  governors  and  other  officers 
were  seated. 


COLLECTING   THE  NEWS.  189 

Of  course,  however,  it  was  not  any  sense  of  responsi- 
bility of  that  sort  that  led  to  the  elaboration  of  the  paper's 
efforts  on  election  days.  For  generations  the  people  of 
Rhode  Island  have  been  accustomed  to  look  to  it  for  early 
and  complete  news  of  local  elections — not  merely  the  gen- 
eral results  and  the  total  pluralities,  but  the  exact  number 
of  votes  cast  for  every  candidate  for  every  office  in  every 
precinct — and  to  meet  this  demand  the  full  resources  of  the 
office  have  been  employed.  In  the  early  days  this  meant 
special  locomotives,  pony  expresses  run  in  relays  from  the 
remoter  rural  voting  places,  and  toilsome  tabulation  and 
addition  by  Mr.  Davis  and  his  counting-room  clerks. 
Now,  with  increased  population,  multiplied  voting  places, 
and  greater  possibilities  in  expeditious  communication 
it  means  the  hiring  of  special  telegraph  and  telephone 
lines,  the  use  of  wireless  telegraphy,  and  the  organization 
of  three  distinct  special  forces  of  workers — the  first  at 
the  polls,  to  hurry  the  fragmentary  returns  to  the  office; 
the  second  in  the  news  room,  to  collate  and  prepare  for 
the  copy  table;  the  third  in  the  composing  room,  to  as- 
semble the  set  matter  line  by  line  in  its  proper  place  in  the 
arranged  form  of  tabular  presentation. 

Completeness  of  organization  for  an  anticipated  task  is 
the  Journal's  mark  of  competency  in  news  service  on 
election  day,  as  readiness  to  meet  unforeseen  emergencies 
is  on  all  the  days  of  the  year.  A  member  of  the  staff, 
perhaps  specially  engaged  for  the  occasion,  is  stationed  in 
each  of  the  voting  precincts  of  the  State  when  the  polls 
close,  with  a  printed  blank  form  on  which  to  take  the 
count.  As  fast  as  the  count  progresses,  if  a  telephone  is 
accessible,  he  gives  the  figures  to  the  office  for  use  in  mak- 


I  go  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

ing  bulletins  and  preparing  early  forecasts  of  results. 
When  the  count  in  his  precinct  is  completed  and  his 
blank  form  is  filled,  which  in  some  precincts  may  not  be 
till  daylight  is  breaking,  he  telegraphs  or  telephones  the 
full  results  to  the  office  or  himself  hurries  thither  with 
them.  There  another  force  of  men  is  waiting,  each  having 
a  special  part  of  the  work  of  tabulation  assigned  to  him. 
First  the  figures  received  are  transferred  to  other  printed 
forms,  so  arranged  that  each  shall  carry  to  the  composing 
room  the  copy  for  a  single  line  of  the  tabulated  matter 
as  it  is  intended  to  appear  in  the  paper.  Next  they  are  read 
successively  to  the  men  whose  part  it  is  to  tabulate  and 
add  the  votes  for  the  different  offices.  The  tables  of 
figures  thus  gradually  growing  through  the  night  are  not 
sent  to  the  composing  room ;  they  are  kept  only  to  get  the 
totals,  for  which  adding  machines  are  employed,  and 
when  the  last  precinct  return  comes  in,  or  the  last  that  is  to 
be  used  in  a  given  edition,  its  figures  need  only  to  be  added 
to  those  that  have  come  before  and  the  result — a  single 
"total"  line — sent  to  the  composing  room. 

In  this  department,  guided  by  sub-heads  and  table 
captions  that  have  been  set  in  advance  and  galleyed 
separately,  the  copy  as  it  has  come  up  line  by  line  has 
been  put  into  linotype  lines  and  placed  in  proper  order 
on  the  proper  galleys;  so  that  simultaneously  with  the 
growing  of  the  tables  of  figures  toward  the  totals  in  the 
news  room  the  same  figures  in  type  form  have  been  ac- 
cumulating on  their  proper  galleys  in  the  composing  room. 
Thus  at  the  end  of  the  night,  the  main  heads  and  intro- 
duction having  been  written  and  set  as  soon  as  the  final 
results  were  clearly  foreshadowed,  when  the  last  total  is 


COLLECTING   THE   NEWS.  191 

obtained  in  the  news  room  it  needs  but  a  couple  of  minutes 
to  have  the  completed  galleys  ready  for  the  forms.  To 
get  all  the  figures  from  all  the  precincts  into  the  oflfice  at 
the  earliest  possible  moment,  to  get  those  figures  in  copy 
form  into  the  composing  room  as  soon  as  possible  after 
they  reach  the  office,  and  to  keep  the  work  of  setting  at 
every  moment  as  far  advanced  as  the  work  of  tabulating — 
these  are  the  prime  objects  of  the  Journal's  system  of 
work  for  election  nights.  Except  for  the  failure  of  some 
precinct  officers  to  complete  their  count  in  time,  the  sys- 
tem must  result  in  giving  the  readers  the  next  morning  a 
complete  report,  down  to  the  minutest  details,  of  the  bal- 
loting throughout  the  whole  State. 

Besides  that,  there  is,  of  course,  another  election  service 
which  the  paper  must  render.  It  must  meet  the  demands 
of  that  large  number  of  active  politicians  and  others 
specially  interested  in  elections  who  will  not  wait  for  the 
morning  issue  but  who  flock  to  the  Journal  office,  on  the 
evening  of  every  election  day,  seeking  to  know  in  advance 
the  probable  general  results  and  the  prospective  plural- 
ities. To  meet  these  demands,  besides  the  men  busily 
tabulating  the  returns  for  the  morning  issue,  there  are 
others  studying  them  as  they  come  in,  picking  out  sig- 
nificant facts  and  figures  and  putting  them  on  lantern  slides 
for  display  on  the  stereopticon  sheet  outside  the  building 
or  transmitting  them  by  telephone  to  inquirers  at  a  dis- 
tance; and  still  others  who  are  making  comparisons  with 
the  figures  of  previous  elections  and  thereby  reaching 
estimates  of  probable  results.  From  the  earliest  times  the 
inquirers  for  this  sort  of  information  have  thronged  the 
Journal  office  on  election  nights.     In  the  old  days  at 


192  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

Barton  block  they  would  pack  the  long  counting  room  to 
suffocation,  and  Mr.  Danielson  himself  would  come  out 
from  his  room  to  read  returns  to  them  and  to  announce 
the  latest  estimates.  The  candidates  would  often  gather 
in  the  news  room  and  themselves  assist  in  adding  up  the 
figures  that  showed  their  triumph  or  defeat.  In  the  outer 
room  discussion  would  often  wax  hot  among  the  waiting 
throng,  and  at  times  of  unusual  uncertainty  and  excite- 
ment order  was  preserved  only  with  difficulty.  In  the 
later  times  the  use  of  the  stereopticon,  the  megaphone, 
and  the  flash-light  has  kept  most  of  the  eager  inquirers 
outside  the  office,  but  still  the  rooms  that  are  open  are 
always  filled,  and  it  is  necessary  to  devote  one  telephone 
to  the  exclusive  use  of  answering  inquiries. 

In  all  this  work — which  means,  of  course,  many  hours 
of  preparation  before  election  day  as  well  as  the  labors  of 
the  night  itself— Mr.  Davis  has  throughout  his  connection 
with  the  paper  taken  an  active  and  interested  part.  It 
has  fallen  to  him  to  supervise  the  arrangements  for  col- 
lecting the  returns  from  the  districts  outside  the  cities; 
and  in  earlier  years  he  did  a  large  part  of  the  tabulating 
done  in  the  office.  With  the  increase  of  the  work  that,  of 
course,  was  impossible;  many  tabulators,  labor-saving 
devices,  and  division  of  labor  became  necessary,  but 
he  still  serves  with  the  younger  men  every  election  night, 
and  never  leaves  the  office  till  the  last  total  has  been  sent 
upstairs  and  the  rumble  of  the  presses  has  begun. 

The  flood  of  1886  tested  the  resources  of  the  Journal 
for  the  collection  of  news,  especially  in  this  part  of  New 
England,  to  which  the  overflow  was  mainly  confined. 
The  rain  began  February  10  and  continued  for  thirty-six 


COLLECTING   THE   NEWS. 


193 


hours,  until  February  12,  while  the  fall  of  rain,  sleet, 
and  melting  snow  amounted  to  8.13  inches,  a  record 
which  has  seldom  been  surpassed  in  the  United  States. 
There  were  nearly  two  feet  of  drifted  snow  on  the  ground, 
which  had  been  frozen  hard,  so  that  the  rising  waters 
had  no  other  means  of  escape  except  to  flood  the  valley. 
The  storm  appeared  to  be  most  severe  in  the  area 
drained  by  the  Moshassuck  river,  which  is  ordinarily  a 
comparatively  small  stream.  The  Woonasquatucket  river 
was  also  compelled  to  take  a  tremendous  addition  to  its 
usual  volume,  and  the  tide  poured  by  both  these  streams 
into  the  old  cove  basin  nearly  reached  the  pavements 
of  Exchange  place. 

The  first  signs  of  the  magnitude  of  the  flood  were  ap- 
parent Thursday  afternoon,  February  11,  when  reports 
from  surrounding  villages  brought  the  information  that 
the  water  in  every  stream  was  very  high.  The  Bulletin 
for  Thursday,  however,  went  to  press  without  special 
efforts  to  describe  the  situation.  During  the  evening 
the  Moshassuck  river  began  to  approach  the  danger  point ; 
so  reporters  were  sent  in  every  direction  about  the  city, 
but  in  many  cases  their  tedious  jaunts  did  not  bring  re 
suits  for  publication  until  Friday's  Bulletin. 

By  Friday  streams  overflowed  and  washed  roads  and 
destroyed  bridges,  buildings  along  the  rivers  were  flooded, 
dams  were  carried  away  or  injured,  and  the  railroad  tracks 
became  so  dangerous  that  the  running  of  trains  had  to  be 
stopped.  The  Moshassuck  river,  where  it  reaches  the 
vicinity  of  the  Charles  street  railroad  crossing,  swept  over 
the  street  upon  the  railroad  tracks,  and  from  that  point  to 
the  Smith  street  bridge  a  four-foot  current  rushed  along 


194  riFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

the  rails  in  the  "cut"  and  emptied  again  into  the  Mos- 
hassuck  at  the  northern  end  of  Canal  street.  Of  course 
this  blocked  all  north-bound  trains,  which  had  to  be  held 
in  the  station. 

The  flood  in  the  valley  of  the  Moshassuck  reached  its 
height  Friday  forenoon,  but  some  of  the  other  basins 
drained  by  the  Providence  river  continued  to  rise  until 
that  night,  when  the  most  damage  was  done.  All  com- 
munication with  Boston  and  Worcester  by  railroad  was 
cut  off  nearly  all  day  Friday,  although  some  trains,  pre- 
ceded by  wrecking  apparatus,  went  through  that  night. 
In  the  meantime  persons  who  were  anxious  to  reach  Bos- 
ton started  in  a  party  wagon,  leaving  Exchange  place  at 
II  o'clock  that  forenoon.  There  were  not  many  long- 
distance telephones  in  use  at  that  time,  and  comparatively 
few  other  lines  running  outside  the  city,  and  these  were  in 
some  cases  carried  down  by  the  flood .  The  telegraph  wires 
worked  fairly  well,  but  they  were  in  such  a  condition  that 
only  important  news  was  transmitted.  The  Journal's  re- 
porters and  correspondents  about  the  city  were  compelled, 
almost  without  exception,  to  bring  in  their  own  news  be- 
cause it  could  not  be  sent  over  wires  and  messengers  were 
not  sure  of  getting  through.  The  Bulletin,  nevertheless, 
went  to  press  with  crowded  columns  describing  the  storm, 
and  printed  33,730  copies— a  large  number  for  that  time. 

The  total  loss  through  the  flood  probably  reached  a 
half-million  dollars,  for  not  a  town  in  the  State  escaped  the 
consequences  of  the  overflowing  of  the  streams.  Roads 
had  to  be  remade,  bridges  rebuilt,  the  railroads  repaired 
and  cleared  of  debris,  and  manufacturers  were  compelled 
to  repair  their  plants  and  make  up  los.scs  on  stored  stock 


COLLECTING   THE  NEWS.  I95 

and  machinery.  The  city  of  Providence  had  to  restore 
streets  and  partly  destroyed  bridges.  The  Mayor  of  the 
city,  the  late  Thomas  A.  Doyle,  was  on  the  scene  of  the 
Moshassuck  floods  all  Thursday  night  and  Friday  fore- 
noon, and  other  officials  who  could  do  anything  to  save 
property  were  on  duty  for  thirty  or  more  consecutive 
hours.  They  early  perceived  the  danger  threatened  by 
the  famous  Georgiaville  dam,  and  ordered  those  having 
charge  of  it  to  let  off  all  the  water  possible.  It  was  for- 
tunate that  the  tide  was  running  out  when  the  greatest 
rush  of  waters  came. 

Another  test  of  the  newspaper's  ability  to  surmount 
obstacles  in  handling  news  was  made  in  the  famous  bliz- 
zard of  1888,  when  New  York  city  and  southern  New 
England  were  storm-bound  for  four  days.  The  storm 
reached  Providence  Sunday  evening,  March  ii,  when 
the  barometer  began  to  fall,  and  it  continued  in  its  down- 
ward course  until  Tuesday  morning  when  it  showed  a 
pressure  of  28.85  at  an  elevation  of  75  feet  above  the  sea, 
a  record  seldom  equalled  in  this  locality.  Only  seven 
inches  of  snow  fell  in  Providence,  but  this  was  whirled 
by  the  wind  into  troublesome  drifts.  Down  the  Stoning- 
ton  road,  as  it  was  then  called,  and  along  the  whole  of 
the  Shore  Line  to  New  York,  the  fall  was  much  heavier, 
so  that  the  drifts  completely  blocked  the  trains.  In  New 
York  city  the  storm  was  even  more  severe,  and  completely 
tied  up  the  steamship,  railroad,  and  other  transportation 
service  of  the  metropolis.  The  area  of  the  barometrical 
depression  was  from  one  hundred  miles  west  of  New 
York  to  north-central  New  England  and  the  ocean. 

As  New  York  is  the  centre  of  general  news,  the  effect  of 


196  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

the  blizzard  on  that  city  was  apparent  in  the  newspaper 
offices  generally.  Several  long-distance  telephones  could 
be  worked  from  Boston  to  Albany  and  thence  to  New 
York  city,  but  the  messages  were  transmitted  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  and  hours  occasionally  intervened  be- 
tween the  periods  of  open-line  operation.  With  this  un- 
satisfactory exception,  Providence  had  no  means  of  com- 
munication with  New  York  from  Monday  to  Friday  by 
usual  methods. 

The  character  of  the  situation  was  realized  at  the 
Journal  office  Tuesday,  forenoon,  when  provision  was 
made  to  get  into  touch  with  New  York  as  quickly 
as  possible.  Reporters  were  sent  to  various  points,  par- 
ticularly to  Stonington,  where  it  was  supposed  that  the 
first  news  from  New  York  might  come  by  boat.  One  re- 
porter spent  two  days  and  a  night  there  waiting  for  the 
first  boat,  which  did  not  arrive  until  4  o'clock  Wednesday 
afternoon.  By  this  means  the  Journal  was  able  to  secure 
the  news  for  Thursday  morning,  although  it  was  several 
days  late. 

The  Bulletins  of  Monday,  Tuesday,  and  Wednesday 
printed  no  fresh  news  that  was  not  entirely  local.  The 
Journals  of  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  were  likewise 
lacking  in  general  dispatches.  But  when  the  reporter 
secured  newspapers  from  New  York  city  by  the  Ston- 
ington boat  Wednesday  afternoon  the  Associated  Press 
was  able  to  glean  a  record  of  8,000  words  of  the  world's 
happenings,  which  were  put  on  the  wire  that  night  for 
the  New  England  papers.  This  was  probably  the  heaviest 
report  sent  out  from  Providence  in  one  night  by  that 
organization,  either  before  or  since  the  bliz/ard.     This 


COLLECTING   THE   NEWS.  197 

fresh  information  included  the  announcement  of  the  death 
of  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  a  dispatch  that  should  have 
been  published  Monday  afternoon.  This  boat  continued 
to  be  the  only  means  of  communication  between  New 
York  and  a  large  part  of  New  England  for  several  days. 

The  condition  of  travelers  on  the  road  to  New  York 
had  been  rather  serious,  and  the  report  that  several  in- 
valids on  their  way  to  Florida  had  suffered  from  the  ex- 
posure induced  a  reporter  to  tramp  nineteen  miles  in  the 
snow  after  a  train  which  was  plowing  its  way  to  that  city. 
The  old  ferryboat  that  then  carried  the  trains  across  the 
Thames  at  New  London  was  loaded  down  with  two  trains 
full  of  passengers,  for  whom  food  had  to  be  sought  in  the 
vicinity.  East  river  was  frozen  over  in  New  York  city, 
which  was  in  danger  of  a  famine  for  several  days. 

Although  Providence  was  shut  out  from  a  part  of 
the  world  by  this  blizzard,  the  storm  was  not  severe 
enough  here  to  cause  much  suffering,  although  the  poor 
train  service  to  the  south  of  the  city  was  a  great  incon- 
venience. Nearby  towns  were  not  cut  off  as  they  had  been 
by  the  floods  of  1886  and  the  telegraph  lines  to  Worcester 
were  intact.  The  Journal  kept  men  on  the  scenes  of  the 
digging  out  of  trains  between  Providence  and  New  York 
until  communication  was  open.  But  during  the  inter- 
ruption of  telegraphic  reports  of  Congressional  speeches 
and  incidents  in  European  life  the  local  force  proved 
that  the  paper  could  be  made  interesting  with  only  city 
news,  and  it  was  some  satisfaction  to  reverse  the  order 
that  prevailed  in  the  previous  generation — when  home 
problems  were  hardly  considered  worth  mentioning,  but 
European  and  national  affairs  were  printed  at  length. 


igS  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

Another  case  where  difficulties  in  the  prompt  collection 
of  news  which  seemed  unsurmountable  were  overcome  was 
in  the  report  of  the  preliminary  hearing  given  to  Lawrence 
Keegan,  when  he  was  bound  over  to  the  grand  jury  for 
the  murder  of  Mrs.  Emily  Chambers  on  the  Scituate  hills 
September  27,  1894.  Keegan  was  taken  before  a  judge 
in  the  isolated  village  of  Richmond,  which  was  without 
telegraph  or  telephone  facilities  and  was  located  three 
miles  from  any  line  of  communication  by  wire  to  the  city 
of  Providence.  There  was  great  local  interest  attending 
the  case,  since  the  parties  were  from  Providence,  and 
the  tragedy  was  involved  in  much  mystery. 

The  case  was  set  for  October  20,  the  week  of  the  horse 
races  at  Narragansett  Park.  The  Journal  company  made 
arrangements  with  A.  H.  Barney  for  the  use  of  running 
horses  from  his  stables,  by  which  the  report  was  taken  as 
fast  as  written  to  the  point  where  the  telephone  wire  passed 
nearest  to  the  place.  Here  a  telegraph  operator  tapped 
the  wire,  placing  the  instrument  in  his  lap  while  he  dis- 
patched the  reports  to  the  Bulletin  ofhce  as  fast  as  they 
were  brought  to  him.  Two  horses  were  used,  Athalena 
running  from  Richmond  to  Ashland,  where  she  was  re- 
lieved by  her  mate  Jakey  Joseph,  who  covered  the  re- 
maining distance  to  the  point  on  the  Saundersvillc  pike 
where  the  wire  had  been  intercepted. 

The  result  was  that  a  full  account  of  the  proceedings 
appeared  in  the  Bulletin  the  same  afternoon,  the  news 
being  received  almost  as  quickly  as  if  the  hearing  were 
held  in  the  Providence  Court  House.  The  Bulletin 
was  the  only  newspaper  which  had  the  news  of  the  mur- 
der case  that  day,  and  the  achievement  was  one  of  the 


COLLECTING   THE   NEWS.  1 99 

most  extraordinary  in  the  history  of  reporting.  To  the 
village  people  the  sight  of  the  racing  horses  dashing  over 
the  road  at  frequent  intervals  was  indeed  a  novelty,  which 
could  not  fail  to  impress  them  with  the  expedients  to 
which  a  newspaper  may  resort  when  confronted  with 
obstacles. 

For  its  general  news  reports  the  Journal  has  been  served 
by  the  leading  New  England  and  national  associations 
engaged  in  such  work,  but  in  late  years  they  have  been 
supplemented  by  special  reports  from  New  York  repre- 
sentatives. 

When  the  fact  was  established  that  wireless  com- 
munication was  possible  through  the  air  the  Journal 
decided  to  test  the  matter  practically,  to  learn  what  were 
the  possibilities  of  this  system  for  the  collection  of  news 
as  well  as  for  commercial  purposes,  and  it  established  at 
considerable  expense  stations  at  Point  Judith  and  Block 
Island,  installed  operators  there,  and  transmitted  messages 
to  and  from  the  island.  In  this  enterprise,  which  was 
undertaken  as  an  experiment,  the  Journal  was  actuated 
by  the  same  motive  which  had  prompted  it  to  adopt  the 
typesetting  machines  before  they  had  come  into  general 
use,  and,  as  in  that  case,  the  results  have  been  entirely 
satisfactory. 

The  tests  proved  that  the  simple  but  mysterious  method 
was  entirely  practicable  and  could  be  used  in  competition 
with  better  known  means,  for  news  matter  had  been  sent 
and  received  at  an  average  rate  of  twenty  words  a  minute 
over  a  space  of  thirteen  miles,  and  it  was  possible  to 
communicate  with  vessels  for  considerable  distances  at  sea. 

When  the  operators  had  acquired  considerable  facility 


200  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

it  was  decided  to  try  the  publication  of  a  daily  newspaper 
on  Block  Island  during  the  summer  which  should  receive 
its  telegraphic  news  by  wireless  transmission  through  the 
Journal  office  from  Point  Judith.  One  result  of  this  was 
to  bring  the  isolated  communities  where  the  stations  are 
situated  into  closer  touch  with  the  country,  while  it  af- 
forded the  publisher  an  opportunity  to  make  further  ex- 
periments with  the  possibilities  of  wireless  appliances. 
Marine  observatories  were  established  at  both  points,  and 
passing  vessels  are  now  regularly  and  promptly  reported 
to  their  owners. 

The  Block  Island  newspaper,  which  was  conducted 
during  the  summer-resort  season  of  forty-five  days,  was 
the  second  in  the  world ;  for  the  Los  Angeles  Times  had 
already  done  similar  work  in  establishing  communication 
with  Catalina  Island  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  had  main- 
tained a  newspaper  there. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  MECHANICAL  EQUIPMENT. 

Typesetting  by  Machinery  first  adopted  in  New  England 
by  the  Journal. — The  successive  Improvements  in 
Presses  and  their  increase  in  Speed. — Development  of 
the  Art  Department  and  its  present  Equipment. 


THE  MECHANICAL  EQUIPMENT. 

Hardly  less  important  than  the  collection  and  arrange- 
ment of  news  by  a  morning  journal  is  the  facility  for 
speedily  putting  it  into  type  and  getting  it  ready  for  distri- 
bution before  dawn.  With  the  enormous  advance  made 
possible  by  the  telegraph  and  telephone  in  the  prompt  col- 
lection of  reports  the  tendency  has  been  to  increase  the 
volume  of  matter  instead  of  furnishing  greater  oppor- 
tunity for  its  arrangement  in  the  office  and  transmission 
to  the  printed  page.  The  result  has  been  that  where  once 
hours  intervened  between  the  closing  up  of  the  forms  and 
the  arrival  of  the  pressman,  who  printed  them,  the  me- 
chanical processes  have  been  so  greatly  improved  that 
enormous  editions  are  now  turned  out  in  minutes  where 
once  the  work  would  have  required  days  and  almost  weeks. 
The  daily  paper,  with  morning,  evening,  and  Sunday 
editions,  is  now  practically  a  continuous  industry  on  which 
work  is  never  suspended  for  an  instant.  Fast  presses  gave 
the  first  relief  to  the  perplexed  publisher,  who  felt  the 
limitations  of  printing  machinery.  These  contrivances 
for  increasing  the  speed  of  printing  did  not  satisfy  the 
demand  for  the  prompt  transmission  of  news,  for  with 
the  possibility  of  printing  more  matter  in  much  shorter 
time  there  came  the  pressure  for  more  news  and  prompter 
service. 

The  introduction  of  type-casting  machines  produced 
a  similar  result  as  the  invention  of  fast  presses,  for  the 


204  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

publisher  who  saw  possibilities  in  the  cheapening  of 
composition  soon  found  that  the  only  effect  of  linotype 
machines  was  to  increase  the  matter  printed  and  to  make 
more  pages  for  the  same  money  that  had  been  expended 
for  picking  up  the  type  by  hand.  While  in  both  printing 
and  setting  up  the  type  the  Journal  has  been  always 
abreast  of  the  time  and  has  taken  advantage  of  every 
serviceable  invention,  it  has  been  during  the  past  fifty 
years  that  the  most  notable  changes  have  been  made  in 
the  Journal  office  to  keep  its  equipment  modern.  In 
fact,  it  has  led  in  the  two  most  important  inventions 
which  have  revolutionized  printing  during  that  time — 
the  adoption  of  cylinder  presses  and  the  use  of  the  linotype 
machine.  When  the  Hoe  press  was  first  put  in  it  seemed 
a  notable  achievement  to  have  secured  the  first  machine 
of  the  sort  outside  of  Boston;  but  when  Ottmar  Mergen- 
thaler's  discovery,  which  had  grown  out  of  a  determination 
to  construct  a  practical  typesetter,  was  put  to  the  test, 
editors  at  the  metropolis  of  New  England  were  either 
skeptical  or  feared  the  antagonism  of  the  organizations 
which  bitterly  opposed  the  machines  that  threatened  to 
displace  many  of  the  craft. 

It  was  known  by  the  publishers  that  a  Washington 
stenographer's  hope  to  produce  a  machine  that  would 
lessen  the  manual  labor  required  to  form  letters  had  led 
him  to  perfect  a  machine  that  the  inventors  believed 
would  arrange  characters  in  a  form  ready  for  printing 
in  a  much  more  rapid  way  than  they  could  be  assembled 
by  hand.  Enthusiasts  had  been  working  on  the  letter- 
machine  idea  for  ten  years,  and  when  this  led  to  the  type- 
setting models  similar  objections  seemed  to  arise  and  make 


THE  MECHANICAL  EQUIPMENT.  205 

the  plan  wholly  impractical.  But  the  stenographer,^  J. 
O.  Clephane,  persisted  and  hunted  out  inventors  working 
on  this  idea  for  whom  he  secured  aid. 

One  of  the  most  promising  of  these  was  Mr.  Mergen- 
thaler,  a  poor  watchmaker,  employed  in  a  Baltimore  ma- 
chine shop  for  a  mechanical  engineering  firm.     He  de- 
voted his  spare  moments  to  the  invention  for  many  years 
with  rare  patience  and  perseverance,  which  was  finally 
rewarded  by  a  recognition  that  he  had  discovered  a  system 
of  casting  from  matrices  that  might  be  made  practical. 
He  tried  to  cast  the  lines  in  a  set  form,  but  justifying 
and  correcting  were  difficult.     Then  he  suggested  putting 
the  type  matrices  together  in  a  little  brass  frame,  casting 
ten  lines  at  a  time.     Although  this  was  favorably  received 
the  inventor  seems  to  have  lost  heart,  for  he  withdrew 
from  the  concern  interested  in  his  patents.     While  pro- 
moters were  busy  with  these  matrices,  which  were  made 
from   type   faces,    Mr.    Mergenthaler   produced   a   new 
form  of  matrix,  which  is  practically  the  one  in  use  to-day, 
and  made  the  single  face  of  type  in  a  row  of  letters  cast 

in  a  solid  line. 

In  the  meantime  Whitelaw  Reid  of  the  Tribune  and 
other  newspaper  men  had  become  interested  in  a  company 
for  making  linotype  machines,  and  they  gladly  adopted 
the  new  form  of  brass  matrix  which  finally  solved  the 
problem  of  composition  by  machinery.  But  the  invention 
was  by  no  means  perfect  yet.  One  great  difficulty  was  in 
justifying  the  lines  so  as  to  bring  them  out  even  at  the 
end  and  distribute  the  space  remaining  between  all 
the  words  in  the  line.  This  problem  had  been  solved 
however,  by  another  inventor,  who  devised  a  wedge  space 


2o6  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

for  use  between  words,  which  might  be  increased  in 
thickness  at  a  single  blow  and  thus  divide  the  room 
left  after  the  last  word  in  the  line  among  the  preceding 
words. 

People  who  wonder  at  the  mechanism  of  the  linotype 
to-day,  and  are  inclined  to  attribute  to  it  almost  human 
qualities,  often  overlook  the  fact  that  this  little  space 
band  was  necessary  to  make  the  machine  practical;  for 
if  the  operator  had  to  stop  at  the  end  of  his  line  and 
"justify"  by  hand  the  space  left  over,  the  value  of  the 
machine  as  a  time-saver  would  be  lost  entirely.  The 
linotype  was  practically  complete  when  it  was  furnished 
with  these  spaces  for  use  between  the  little  brass  matrices ; 
but  the  feeding  of  separate  molds  for  type  faces  into  their 
assembly  place  was  still  defective,  as  was  the  system  of 
injecting  the  hot  metal  into  the  mold. 

For  months  when  the  machine  was  on  exhibition  at 
Baltimore  visitors  were  liable  to  be  spattered  with  the 
molten  metal,  which  was  not  ejected  with  precision  or 
effectively.  Gravity  was  not  considered  of  sufficient 
force  to  bring  down  the  matrices  into  line,  so  compressed 
air  was  used  to  eject  them  and  a  wire  line  steadied  them 
directly  to  their  places.  In  other  respects  the  machines 
installed  in  the  Providence  Journal  office  in  1889  were 
much  like  the  machines  made  to-day,  but  even  then  there 
were  skeptics  who  doubted  whether  any  machine  could 
supplant  the  hand  operator  who  had  made  little  advance 
in  one  hundred  years,  except  possibly  to  develop  dex- 
terity and  increase  the  speed  possible  in  the  operation  of 
laboriously  picking  the  single  type  from  its  compartment 
in  the  case  and  setting  it  into  the  "stick."     But  here  was 


THE   MECHANICAL  EQUIPMENT.  207 

a  machine  that  would  arrange  a  line  of  matrices,  auto- 
matically distribute  the  space  left  as  the  end  of  the  line  was 
approached,  cast  a  solid  block,  and  distribute  the  matrices 
again,  without  much  attention  from  the  operator,  save  to 
touch  the  right  keys  to  bring  down  the  proper  letters.  A 
long  arm,  which  seems  to  be  endowed  with  human  skill, 
reaches  down  and,  grasping  the  matrices  that  have  been 
put  in  the  line,  carries  them  to  the  top  of  the  machine, 
where  a  screw  moves  the  row  along  a  lock  bar  built  much 
on  the  plan  of  the  cash  carrier,  so  that  each  matrix  for  a 
letter  drops  in  at  the  right  place  ready  for  use  in  forming 
another  line. 

The  New  York  Tribune,  Louisville  Courier-Journal, 
and  Chicago  News  became  financially  interested  in  the 
Mergenthaler  machines  and  began  using  them  a  year  be- 
fore the  Journal  took  hold  of  the  matter,  but  they  did  not 
install  plants  to  supersede  their  hand  composition.  The 
linotype  was  considered  an  experiment  when  the  pub- 
lisher of  the  Journal  saw  it  had  probable  elements  of  success 
and  offered  to  equip  his  composing  room  with  it.  In 
the  spring  of  1889,  just  before  the  Barton  block  was  va- 
cated, the  machines  were  set  up  in  the  building  on  the 
corner  of  Westminster  and  Eddy  streets,  so  as  to  be  ready 
for  use  when  the  place  was  occupied.  The  old  composing 
room  was  not  entirely  abandoned  at  first,  for  the  fourth 
floor  was  fitted  up  with  the  cases  which  were  so  soon 
to  be  abandoned. 

During  the  first  few  months  there  were  discouraging 
incidents,  such  as  the  clogging  of  the  channels  through 
which  the  matrices  were  forced  by  the  compressed  air, 
the  scattering  of  the  molten  metal,  and  other  minor  de- 


2o8  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

fccts  which  have  since  been  remedied.  But  the  machines 
were  practically  a  success  from  the  start,  and  their  faults 
were  soon  corrected.  The  first  machines  to  enter  New 
England,  and  the  fourth  set  installed  in  the  country,  they 
were  visited  by  inquiring  publishers  and  foremen  of  news- 
paper offices,  who  generally  adopted  them  later;  for  the 
linotype  machine  now  holds  sway  in  nearly  every  office 
in  the  country.  The  inventor  did  not  live  long  to  enjoy 
all  the  distinction  which  his  genius  had  earned,  for  he  died 
of  consumption  in  1899;  but  he  did  not  suffer  those 
disappointments  that  fall  to  the  lot  of  many  a  genius,  for 
he  shared  in  the  proceeds  from  his  protfiable  enterprise. 
It  is  said  that  in  all  inventions  there  is  a  point  at  which 
experiment  proves  the  practical  use  to  which  the  device 
may  be  put,  and  after  that  there  can  only  be  perfecting 
improvements.  Thus  the  locomotive  has  not  changed  in 
principle  since  it  was  first  planned,  and  the  trolley  car  is 
moved  by  a  motor  working  on  the  principle  of  the  first 
invention.  There  will  always  be  doubters  who  hesitate 
about  the  adoption  of  an  apparently  successful  invention, 
and  there  are  thousands  who  have  championed  hare- 
brained schemes;  but  when  the  recognition  of  the  value 
of  a  new  invention  is  the  part  of  a  continuous  policy, 
which  is  to  be  on  the  alert  to  improve  mechanical  con- 
ditions, there  is  little  element  of  chance  involved. 

To  illustrate  the  care  with  which  the  decision  to  adopt 
Mergenthaler  machines  was  made,  credit  should  be  given 
to  the  opinion  of  the  late  Lucian  Sharpe,  an  officer  of  the 
Journal  corporation,  who  inspected  the  machines  in 
operation,  and  his  approval  was  the  judgment  of  an  expert 
in    machinery    whose    scientific    instruments    are    well- 


THE  MECHANICAL  EQUIPMENT.  209 

known  the  world  over.  The  Hnotype  machine  may  be 
said  to  have  been  perfected  in  practical  operation  at  the 
office  of  the  Journal,  which  was  the  fourth  newspaper  in 
the  country  to  give  it  a  trial  and  the  first  in  New  England. 
There  were  eleven  of  them  set  up,  and  John  Burger,  a 
machinist,  who  was  with  Mr.  Mergenthaler  during  the 
experiments  he  made  in  Baltimore,  soon  took  charge  of 
them  and  was  able  to  put  them  in  efficient  condition. 
He  still  remains  in  charge  of  the  machines,  which  have 
twice  been  replaced.  Nearly  four  years  ago  eleven  ma- 
chines were  purchased  by  the  company,  one  of  which  sets 
"heads"  while  three  of  them  have  changeable  fonts,  rep- 
resenting the  latest  modern  improvements.  The  New 
England  paper  that  first  followed  the  Journal  was  the 
Concord,  N.  H.  Patriot,  which  secured  them  in  1892; 
in  Boston  the  first  to  adopt  them  was  the  Post,  which  did 
not  put  in  a  plant  until  1893. 

When  the  linotype  machines  were  introduced  the  de- 
vice was  still  imperfect,  and  the  operators  were  obliged  to 
pay  so  much  attention  to  the  mechanism  that  little  time 
could  be  given  to  deciphering  bad  manuscripts.  Type- 
writing machines  were  not  in  general  use  then,  although 
one  had  been  operated  for  a  short  time  in  the  counting 
room  for  the  business  department.  It  was  decided  to 
transcribe  all  the  copy  for  the  printers  using  the  linotype 
machines  to  typewritten  pages,  and  Miss  Gertrude 
Johnson  was  engaged  for  this  purpose.  She  was  an  ex- 
pert operator  who  had  received  her  training  at  the  Pull- 
man company's  office.  As  the  work  increased  it  was 
thought  best  to  have  another  operator,  which  the  Pullmans 
were  again  asked  to  provide.     As  a  result,  Mr.  R.  W. 


2IO  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

Jennings  came  to  Providence,  and  after  serving  some  time 
as  a  copyist  he  did  reporting.  Mr.  Jennings  afterwards 
became  private  secretary  to  Governor  Brown,  and  when 
he  left  the  office  he  took  Miss  Johnson  with  him.  Mrs. 
Jennings  is  now  instructor  in  stenography  and  type- 
writing and  her  husband  is  absorbed  in  poHtics,  for  he 
is  secretary  to  Chas.  R.  Brayton  as  well  as  clerk  of  the 
State  returning  board. 

Each  step  in  the  development  of  the  printing  machinery 
in  the  Journal  office  has  been  taken  to  meet  the  new 
conditions  in  the  demand  for  news,  and  while  every 
improvement  seemed  to  provide  for  the  needs  for  a  long 
time,  it  would  be  only  a  few  years  before  another  change 
became  necessary.  It  would  sometimes  appear  that 
the  increase  in  capacity  created  a  demand  that  taxed 
every  facility  until  another  change  had  to  be  made. 
Fifty  years  ago  an  improved  Adams  press,  which  had  suc- 
ceeded the  platen  and  frisket  type,  was  in  operation. 
The  impressions  made  were  distinguished  at  this  period 
by  the  white  lines  on  the  border  of  the  columns  made  by 
the  tape  which  moved  the  paper  along  and  protected  it 
from  the  impression. 

When  in  1856  a  single  small-cylinder  Hoe  press  was 
installed  it  was  considered  a  great  achievement  that 
1,800  impressions  could  be  made  in  an  hour.  The  paper 
was  enlarged  a  second  time,  being  increased  from  seven 
to  eight  columns,  and  seven  inches  were  added  to  the 
length  of  the  page.  An  impression  cylinder  had  taken 
the  place  of  the  old  platen,  but  the  paper  had  still  to  be 
passed  through  twice  to  be  printed  on  both  sides.  In 
1862  another  Hoe  press  was  bought,   with  double  the 


THE   MECHANICAL  EQUIPMENT.  211 

capacity  of  the  first  one,  which  was  gained  by  adding  a 
cylinder,  so  that  an  impression  was  made  as  the  forms 
passed  each  one  on  the  bed. 

When  the  office  was  moved  to  the  Barton  block  in  1871, 
a  four-cylinder  press  was  installed,  a  machine  which  was 
then  superior  to  any  in  New  England  outside  of  Boston 
and  Springfield.  This  was  really  a  "double  deck"  press, 
two  cylinders  being  placed  above  the  two  which  had  been 
the  feature  of  the  other  machine.  Next  came  the  press 
of  six  cylinders,  arranged  in  pairs  one  above  the  other  and 
working  on  much  the  same  principle  as  the  two-cylinder 
press.  By  this  arrangement  12,000  impressions  could 
be  made  in  an  hour,  but  the  machine  was  obsolete  in  six 
years.  The  invention  of  the  cylinder  on  which  the  type 
forms  could  be  locked,  the  column  rules  being  curved  to 
fit  the  "turtle  backs,"  was  the  beginning  of  the  modern 
fast  press;  and  the  machine  could  be  well  called  "per- 
fecting," for  it  needed  only  the  adoption  of  stereotyping 
to  reach  the  highest  stage  of  development  known  to-day. 

The  next  improvement  was  stereotyping,  by  which 
process  the  type  faces  were  reproduced  on  solid  metal 
curved  plates,  so  there  was  no  longer  danger  of  metal 
pieces  becoming  loosened  in  the  forms  and  flying  out  at 
a  tangent  as  they  revolved.  In  1881  the  Hoes  built  a 
single  web  perfecting  press  for  the  Journal,  and  this  ma- 
chine took  the  blank  paper  from  a  continuous  roll,  but  it 
had  no  folder  attachment,  as  that  feature  had  not  then 
been  fully  developed.  This  press  could  print  an  eight- 
page  paper  at  the  rate  of  24,000  an  hour.  A  folding, 
cutting,  and  pasting  attachment  was  added  in  1886. 

Since  that  time  three  presses  have  been  made  for  the 


212  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH  THE   JOURNAL. 

Journal,  and  all  of  them  arc  now  available  for  use.  Their 
capacity  and  speed  are  about  the  same,  but  each  new 
one  possessed  the  latest  mechanical  improvements.  All 
three  of  them  are  double-supplement  presses  with  a 
capacity  of  24,000  papers  an  hour  when  the  paper  is 
twelve  pages  in  size,  and  12,000  an  hour  when  the  paper  is 
either  sixteen,  twenty,  or  twenty-four  pages  in  size. 

For  the  mechanical  equipment  in  the  new  building 
the  very  best  press  facilities  have  been  secured,  since  the 
new  machines  will  not  only  reach  as  great  a  speed  as  has 
been  attained  by  any  yet  manufactured,  but  they  will 
be  capable  of  using  five  different  colors  in  ink,  thus  pro- 
ducing high-grade  pictures  to  conform  to  modern  stand- 
ards in  illustration.  R.  Hoe  &  Co.  are  building  these 
two  sextuple  presses,  each  to  have  a  capacity  of  24,000 
copies  an  hour  of  ten,  twelve,  fourteen,  sixteen,  eighteen, 
twenty,  twenty-two,  and  twenty-four-page  papers  com- 
plete, cut,  folded,  and  pasted.  Of  eight-page  papers 
each  press  will  print  48,000  copies  an  hour. 

Walter  Scott,  who  assisted  in  the  press  room,  has  seen 
the  development  of  the  press  from  the  old  flat  bed  machine 
to  the  type  cylinder,  perfecting  press  of  to-day.  He  has 
reason  to  remember  the  old  double-cylinder  machine,  for 
his  arm  was  drawn  into  its  gearing  one  day,  when  another 
workman  threw  it  off  its  centre  and  the  powerful  springs 
caught  him,  mangling  that  limb  badly.  Before  the 
days  of  web  rolls  the  paper  was  bought  in  reams,  and  it 
was  one  of  the  duties  of  the  pressman  to  prepare  this  for 
printing  by  dampening  every  few  sheets,  when  it  was 
spread  out  in  piles,  the  process  of  smoothing  out  the 
creases  being  known  as  "breaking  the  back"  of  the  fold. 


THE  MECHANICAL   EQUIPMENT.  213 

The  six-cylinder  press  was  the  most  imposing  of  any  used, 
for  it  required  three  feeders  at  each  end  and  thus  was 
three  stories  high. 

When  the  morning  paper  issued  extras  during  the  day  to 
give  the  war  news,  before  the  Bulletin  was  started,  these 
were  two-page  sheets,  printed  double  and  then  divided 
by  tearing  them  apart  with  a  column  rule  as  guide.  Often 
they  contained  only  a  few  lines  of  live  news,  which  was 
leaded  conspicuously  amid  dispatches  that  had  appeared 
in  the  morning.  Mr.  Scott  would  sometimes  notify  Mr. 
Danielson  of  the  receipt  of  war  news  on  a  Sunday  and 
urge  him  to  issue  an  extra  edition.  If  Mr.  Danielson 
did  not  think  it  worth  while  Mr.  Scott  occasionally  bought 
the  edition  and  printed  it  on  his  own  account.  The  last 
time  that  he  did  this  was  when  the  news  of  the  surrender 
of  Gen.  Lee  at  Appomatox  came  on  a  Sunday.  He  had 
great  expectations  in  handling  this  edition,  but  he  was 
disappointed,  for  people  did  not  seem  to  care  to  buy  the 
paper  when  they  knew  the  war  was  over. 

The  Journal  was  one  of  the  first  newspapers  in  New 
England  to  realize  the  value  of  illustration  in  daily  journal- 
ism, and  from  the  day  the  first  illustration  appeared  in  its 
pages  it  has  endeavored  to  keep  pace  with  the  improve- 
ments that  have  been  introduced  from  time  to  time.  In 
the  early  life  of  this  branch  of  newspaper  endeavor  its 
importance  was  quickly  admitted,  clearly  proven  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all — editors  and  readers — and  it  only  re- 
mained necessary  to  develop  the  field. 

The  Journal  has  to-day  an  art  department  fully 
equipped  to  carry  any  needed  illustration  through  the 
various  stages  to   the   stereotyping  room.    Artists   and 


214  FIFTY   YEARS    WITH    THE   JOURNAL. 

photographers  are  ready  at  a  moment's  notice  to  take 
snap  shots,  sketch,  or  "frame  up"  pictures.  And 
photo-engravers  are  ready  to  reduce  the  photographs 
or  sketches  to  printable  form.  The  system  is  so 
perfect  that  the  laymen  would  scarcely  believe  cuts 
could  be  produced  in  such  a  short  time.  It  is  not 
unusual  to  print  a  half-tone  illustration  of  a  noonday 
event  in  the  Bulletin  that  appears  on  the  street  three 
hours  later. 

The  first  news  of  the  fire  in  the  Masonic  building  of 
Chicago,  January  23,  1904,  reached  the  Journal  office  at 
a  quarter  before  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Two  minutes 
later  the  engraving  department  received  for  reproduction 
a  picture  of  the  building,  and  at  3:25  o'clock,  thirty-eight 
minutes  afterward,  a  finished  two-column,  half-tone  cut 
of  the  Chicago  structure  was  ready  for  printing. 

All  the  work— art,  photography,  and  photo-engraving — 
is  done  by  Journal  employees  in  the  office.  Until  April, 
1902,  the  illustrations  were  reproduced  by  outside  en- 
gravers, but  since  that  time  the  Journal  has  used  its  own 
plant. 

The  development  of  special  articles  as  a  feature  of  the 
Sunday  Journal  created  a  demand  for  illustrations. 
The  first  picture  made  in  the  Journal  office  for  use  in  its 
columns  was  a  cut  of  the  steamer  yacht  Norma,  which 
appeared  May  9,  1886.  This  was  drawn  by  Charles  H. 
Rowland,  who  was  a  reporter  rather  than  an  artist. 
A  picture  of  the  schooner  yacht  Sachem,  owned  in  Prov- 
idence, appeared  in  the  issue  of  Sunday  May  30.  There 
were  numerous  old-time  wood  cuts  in  the  issue  of  the 
Journal,  celebrating  the  250th  anniversary  of  the  founding 


THE   MECHANICAL   EQUIPMENT.  215 

of  Providence.  Charles  P.  Davis  began  occasional  work 
with  illustrations  to  a  poem  "The  Ancient  Anglers  of 
Warren,"-  published  Sunday,  July  i8,  1886,  and  later  he 
became  a  more  frequent  contributor  until  he  was  reg- 
ularly attached  to  the  Journal  staff  in  1888. 

The  establishment  of  this  department  April  7,  1888, 
was  occasioned  by  the  engagement  of  Mr.  Davis,  who  not 
only  sketched  the  pictures,  but  engraved  them  on  the 
zinc  himself.  Later,  when  the  department  expanded, 
the  drawings  were  sent  elsewhere  for  reproduction.  Mr. 
Davis  remained  with  the  Journal  for  about  a  year  and  a 
half,  and  he  is  now  connected  with  the  School  of  Fine 
Arts  in  St.  Louis. 

Soon  the  illustrations  were  not  confined  to  the  Sunday 
editions,  for  the  desirability  of  picturing  events  for  the 
week-day  issues  became  apparent.  It  was  found  that  the 
process  of  making  zinc  plates  was  too  slow  for  daily 
editions,  so  the  chalk-plate  process  was  employed  for 
several  years,  but  this  soon  became  obsolete. 

The  camera  has  had  an  interesting  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  art  work  on  a  newspaper.  One  of  the  first 
cameras  used  on  the  Journal  was  a  tiny  pocket  affair, 
1 1  inches,  which  the  artist  personally  owned  and  carried 
with  him  on  his  sketching  tours,  where  he  found  it  of 
great  advantage.  From  this  small  photographic  begin- 
ning, about  six  years  ago,  the  present  camera  equipment 
of  the  art  department  has  been  evolved,  including  prac- 
tically everything  that  varying  conditions  might  require, 
from  the  small  4  x  5  to  the  6^  x  8|  Graphic  and  8  x  10  King 
tripod,  with  a  complete  assortment  of  lenses. 

Cameras,  though  useful,  were  not  essential   until   the 


2l6  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

newspaper  half-tones  came  into  use,  and  in  a  sense  the 
half-tone  has  revolutionized  newspaper  illustration.  It 
has  robbed  it  of  whatever  crudeness  or  unnaturalness  it 
might  have  possessed,  and  it  has  rendered  feasible  a  far 
more  extensive  illustrative  plan.  The  first  notable  half- 
tone work  from  photographs  published  in  the  Journal  was 
on  the  occasion,  in  February,  1899,  of  the  return  of  the 
ist  Rhode  Island  Regiment.  Before  this  half-tones  had 
been  published  occasionally,  but  the  custom  grew  rapidly 
from  that  date.  To  show  the  increased  activity  of  the 
Journal's  art  department  the  figures  for  three  years  are 
interesting.  During  1901  the  total  number  of  cuts  made 
was  2,712;  3,951  cuts  were  made  in  1902,  and  5,465  in 
1903. 


CHAPTER    X. 
HOMES  OF  THE  JOURNAL. 

Evolution  from  the  office  in  the  Old  Coffee  House  to  the 
New  Building  being  erected.— Some  Characteristics 
of  the  Places  Occupied  During  the  Last  50  Years. 


HOMES  OF  THE  JOURNAL. 

In  the  last  fifty  years  the  Journal  has  successively  oc- 
cupied three  homes,  and  will  soon  move  into  a  fourth, 
which  is  being  built  so  as  to  include  the  site  of  the  present 
Journal  building.  When  the  Journal  was  first  estab- 
lished it  was  published  in  the  old  "Coffee  House"  build- 
ing which  stood  at  the  corner  of  Market  square  and 
Canal  street.  The  publishing  business  was  moved 
across  the  "bridge"  to  the  corner  of  Dyer  street  in 
August,  1823,  but  it  remained  in  that  location  only  a  year. 
The  next  move  was  to  the  "granite  building,"  which  still 
faces  Market  square,  and  the  Journal  was  printed  there 
for  nearly  ten  years.  During  that  period  a  fire  in  May, 
1833,  injured  the  plant,  but  the  office  was  restored  and 
continued  to  be  occupied  until  the  establishment  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Whipple  building,  which  then  stood  on  the 
south  side  of  College  street,  just  below  the  location  of 
the  present  court  house. 

It  was  not  until  after  Mr.  Anthony  became  editor  that 
the  removal  was  made  to  the  Washington  building,  still 
standing  on  Washington  Row,  and  facing  the  river.  It 
was  while  in  this  centre  of  activity  that  the  Journal  office 
became  the  gathering  place  of  the  public  men  who  ex- 
changed ideas  with  its  editors  and  dictated  the  policy 
prevailing  in  the  government  of  the  State.  Mr.  Anthony 
was  most  conspicuously  associated  with  his  sanctum  in 
this  building,  where  he  could  be  found  almost  every  day, 
for  he  had  not  then  entered  active  political  life  in  Wash- 


2  20  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

ington.  Many  older  residents  remember  the  open  grate 
that  warmed  and  cheered  the  counting  room  and  the  desk 
in  the  editorial  room  which  was  nearly  buried  with  ex- 
changes. Over  the  stairs  was  built  a  '*den,"  where 
Mr.  Angell  could  find  seclusion  for  his  serious  work. 

The  editorial  rooms  were  on  the  second  floor,  reached  by 
the  stairs  ascending  from  No.  5  Washington  Row,  while 
street  access  to  the  press  and  composing  rooms  was  ob- 
tained by  ascending  the  stairs  at  No.  9.  At  the  right  of 
the  main  entrance  was  the  counting  room.  In  this  de- 
partment Mr.  Davis  had  a  desk  behind  the  counter,  in 
front  of  which  "Joe"  Bucklin  sat  while  addressing  the 
wrappers  for  the  next  morning's  mail.  With  these  two 
was  J.  Bowers  Slade,  now  the  head  of  the  firm  of  Slade 
Wilson  &  Co.,  and  the  three  constituted  the  working 
force  in  the  business  office  for  several  years.  Senator 
Anthony  had  a  private  office  opening  from  the  right  of 
the  counting  room ;  but  the  room  in  the  rear  of  the  busi- 
ness office  was  the  general  editorial  room,  occupied  by 
reporters  as  well  as  editors.  It  was  here  that  the  his- 
toric Journal  "Sunday  School"  held  its  sessions. 

Before  the  Journal  was  moved  from  the  Washington 
building  the  question  of  erecting  a  home  of  its  own  was 
considered  favorably,  and  in  1868  one-half  the  Hall  block 
on  Weybosset  street  was  bought  for  the  purpose.  But 
this  lot  did  not  prove  suitable  for  a  newspaper,  so  the  plan 
of  building  was  abandoned  for  a  time.  The  Hall  block 
was  sold  in  May,  1872,  after  the  Journal  was  well  estab- 
lished in  the  Barton  block.  The  place  is  now  occupied 
by  Henry  Pearce,  the  banker,  and  by  the  Westminster 
Bank. 


OLD    HOMES    OF  THE    JOURNAL. 

Coffee  House, 
Fletcher    Building,  '     Washington    Buildinc 

Barton  Block. 


HOMES    OF  THE  JOURNAL.  221 

The  transfer  from  the  Washington  building  to  the  Bar- 
ton block,  2  Weybosset  street,  was  an  important  one,  for 
the  office  had  been  identified  with  Washington  Row  for 
twenty-seven  years.  But  it  was  necessary  to  place  the  new 
presses  on  the  ground  floor,  and  therefore  a  building 
adapted  to  this  purpose  was  needed.  In  the  Barton 
block  the  front  of  the  first  floor  was  divided  with  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Co.  In  the  rear  of  the  count- 
ing room  was  the  news  room,  while  the  editors,  Messrs. 
Anthony  and  Danielson,  were  wedged  in  back  of  the 
telegraph  office,  and  next  to  the  press  room,  where  they 
were  next  to  the  roar  of  the  machinery  as  it  turned  out 
the  freshly  printed  sheets.  The  reporters  were  installed 
on  the  second  floor,  while  on  the  third  floor  a  small  space 
was  partitioned  off  from  the  composing  room  for  the  use 
of  the  editorial  writers.  In  recounting  his  experiences  in 
the  Barton  block,  Mr.  Manton  H.  Luther,  now  in  Chicago, 
thus  describes  the  local  room: 

"The  city  room  was  commodious.  It  was  situated  on 
the  second  floor  of  the  old  Barton  block  and  was  nearly 
large  enough  to  serve  the  purpose  of  a  lodge  hall.  At 
some  former  period  it  had  been  used  by  a  dealer  in  stoves, 
and  the  board  floor  was  seamed  and  scarred  with  the  marks 
of  the  heavy  castings  that  had  been  dragged  over  it.  Two 
windows  and  a  loft  door  opened  into  the  alley,  and  through 
these  apertures,  in  warm  weather,  was  wafted  an  in- 
spiring aroma  from  'Billy'  Arnold's  restaurant  kitchen, 
not  always  unmingled  with  odors  of  a  less  savory  char- 
acter; and  through  them  also  came  'Billy'  Arnold's  flies 
to  visit  us,  when  they  were  driven  from  his  famous  eating 
house." 


222  FIFTY    YEARS    WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

Visitors  to  the  Journal  editorial  rooms  in  the  Barton 
block  rarely  left  before  they  had  taken  a  drink  out  of  the 
famous  old  cocoanut  dipper,  which  was  one  of  the  estab- 
lished institutions  of  the  place.  A  pail  on  a  small  stand 
was  filled  with  ice  water  which  could  be  dipped  out  with 
this  ladle.  When  the  office  was  moved  from  Barton 
block  to  the  Fletcher  building  the  dipper  was  taken  along, 
but  when  visitors  lessened  in  numbers  and  the  germ  theory 
of  disease  gained  strength  the  old  dipper  gave  way  to 
more  modern  receptacles.  In  the  special  edition  of  the 
Journal,  describing  the  new  office  in  the  Fletcher  building, 
appeared  the  following  reference  to  the  editorial  dipper: 

"Filled  with  pellucid  water,  cooled  and  chastened  with 
crystal  ice,  it  has  slaked  the  thirst  of  generations  of  Rhode 
Island  statesmen,  cheered  the  parched  lips  of  'Old  Sub- 
scriber,' ^A-vis,'  and  'Pro  Bono  Publico,'  sweetened  the 
draughts  of  victory  and  consoled  the  pangs  of  defeat  of 
candidates  for  every  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  and  been 
ever  fresh  and  full  like  the  contents  of  the  newspaper  of 
which  it  is  the  emblem  and  adjunct.  Like  the  Journal 
itself,  while  undergoing  changes,  it  has  been  ever  the 
same.  Editors  have  died  or  resigned  and  been  succeeded 
by  others;  publishers  have  passed  away  and  others  have 
taken  their  places;  but  the  newspaper  has  been  perennial. 
So  the  hoops  of  one  bucket  have  been  gnawed  by  the  tooth 
of  time  or  the  bottom  fallen  out  from  structural  weakness; 
so  one  cocoanut  dipper  has  been  cracked  or  parted  com- 
pany with  the  handle.  But  others  have  been  supplied 
and  the  fountain  has  never  failed." 

After  eighteen  years  on  Weybosset  street  the  Journal 
was  moved  to  the  Fletcher  building  on  Westminster  and 


HOMES    OF   THE  JOURNAL.  223 

Eddy  streets.  This  structure  is  five  stories  high  and  is 
now  being  used  entirely  for  publishing  purposes  by  the 
Journal  Company.  The  well-equipped  counting  room 
occupies  the  entire  front  on  Westminster  street,  the  presses 
are  on  the  ground  floor  in  the  rear  and  facing  on  Eddy 
street,  the  editorial  room  is  on  the  second  floor,  the  local 
news  and  composing  rooms  are  on  the  third  floor,  while 
on  the  fourth  floor  are  the  Journal  barber  shop  and  the 
gymnasium  for  employees,  who  can  take  advantage  of  the 
services  of  a  competent  instructor  provided  by  the  com- 
pany. The  mailing  room  is  in  the  rear  of  the  second  floor, 
rooms  for  editorial  writers  and  a  large  library  are  on  the 
fourth  floor,  and  the  art  department  occupies  the  fifth 
floor.  A  lunch  room  is  provided  on  the  third  floor  in  the 
open  space  surrounded  by  the  separate  compartments  for 
telegraph  editors  and  reporters,  where  the  employees 
may  enjoy  their  lunches  at  midday  or  midnight. 

Altogether  the  office  is  complete  in  its  provision  for  the 
comfort  and  convenience  of  the  workers.  Long  distance 
telephone  service  is  available  on  three  floors,  and  all  the 
departments  are  connected  by  an  interior  telephone 
system.  On  the  news  room  floor  are  the  bound 
files  of  ah  the  issues  of  the  Journal  and  the  Bulletin,  as 
well  as  other  local  papers.  Automatic  carriers  connect  the 
business  and  editorial  rooms  with  the  composing  room,  and 
there  are  speaking  tubes  at  the  desks  in  addition  to  the 
adjustable  telephone  instruments.  An  elevator  in  the 
Eddy  street  entrance  reaches  all  the  floors.  The  building 
is  lighted  by  electricity  generated  in  its  own  plant.  When 
the  east  half  of  the  new  Journal  building  has  been  finished 
the  present  offices  will  be  moved  into  it,  so  as  to  aflow 


2  24  FIFTY   YEARS   WITH   THE  JOURNAL. 

for  the  completion  of  the  new  building  over  the  site  of 
the  old  without  interruption  to  the  employees. 

When  the  new  Journal  building  now  in  course  of 
erection  is  completed,  Mr.  Davis  will  see  the  Journal  in 
a  home  of  its  own  which  will  be  in  marked  contrast  to 
the  quarters  occupied  by  the  paper  when  he  first  began 
his  labors  for  the  concern.  The  new  Journal  building 
will  occupy  not  only  the  space  now  taken  up  by  the  present 
Journal  building,  but  also  the  adjoining  land  which  was 
recently  acquired  by  the  Journal  Company.  The  new 
building  will  cover  the  combined  lots,  which  will  give 
it  a  frontage  of  about  87  feet  on  Westminster  and  Fulton 
streets  and  202  feet  on  Eddy  street. 

The  building  will  not  only  be  creditable  to  the  news- 
paper, but  also  to  the  city.  It  will  be  of  three  stories. 
The  style  of  architecture  will  be  Italian  Renaissance, 
which  admits  of  an  ornate  treatment.  The  material 
used  for  the  street  fronts  will  be  principally  terra  cotta 
except  the  shafts  of  the  tall  columns,  which  will  be  of 
limestone.  The  terra  cotta  will  have  a  tooled  surface, 
so  that  stone  and  terra  cotta  will  have  an  uniform  gray 
color   and    texture. 

The  maximum  amount  of  light  has  been  obtained  in 
the  first  and  second  story  by  making  the  bays  between 
columns  almost  wholly  of  plate  glass.  The  third  story 
is  lighted  by  large  dormers  of  terra  cotta  and  by  overhead 
skylights,  which  are  concealed  from  view  by  the  steep 
pitch  roof  which  forms  a  parapet.  The  roof  will  be  of 
light  green  slate  with  finials,  crestings,  etc.  of  copper. 

The  main  entrance  will  be  on  Westminster  street,  and 
the    triumphal    arch   motive  will    be    used    here.     Iron 


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HOMES    OF    THE  JOURNAL.  225 

bulletin  boards  will  be  placed  on  each  side  of  the  entrance, 
and  the  wide  opening  is  to  be  closed  by  means  of  orna- 
mental iron  gates.  The  long  vestibule  and  the  staircase 
hall  will  have  a  high  wainscot  of  marble,  with  tinted  and 
panelled  walls  above,  ornamented  stucco  cornice,  and 
beamed  and  panelled  ceiling.  The  stairs  in  the  lower 
hall  will  be  entirely  of  marble,  and  the  elevator  screens 
and  the  stairs  above  the  first  story  of  wrought  iron  in  an 
ornamental  design. 

The  Journal  Company's  office  will  open  from  the 
staircase  hall,  and  will  also  have  a  large  separate  entrance 
in  the  centre  of  the  Eddy  street  front.  The  large  room 
is  to  be  finished  in  marble  and  oak,  with  columns  and 
pilasters  and  mosaic  floor.  The  ceiling  will  be  heavily 
beamed,  and  the  room  lighted  by  a  large  overhead  sky- 
light. A  large  amount  of  space  in  the  Journal  ofhce 
will  be  devoted  to  accommodations  for  the  public.  The 
building  will  be  of  fireproof  construction  throughout. 

The  section  of  the  basement  of  the  new  building 
which  will  be  used  exclusively  by  the  Journal  Company 
is  of  unusual  design  and  construction.  The  engineers 
found  few  precedents  for  laying  water-tight  floors  about 
20  feet  below  the  water  level,  and  the  conditions  on  the 
lot  adjoining  the  present  Journal  building  at  Westminster 
and  Eddy  street  were  peculiarly  unfavorable.  The  mud 
was  extremely  fine,  and  the  difficulties  of  excavation  were 
augmented  by  the  necessity  of  supporting  the  adjoining 
buildings  which  rest  on  ordinary  foundations  about  eight 
feet  below  the  sidewalk.  Water-tight  sheathing  was 
driven,  and  the  mud,  which  ran  almost  as  freely  as  water, 
was  scooped  out  preparatory  to  driving  piles.     An  idea 


226  FIFTY  YEARS   WITH   THE   JOURNAL. 

of  the  character  of  the  soil  may  l^e  formed  from  the  fact 
that  workmen  who  stood  long  in  one  place  were  pulled 
out  by  derricks,  their  Ijoots  usually  being  left  in  the 
quagmire. 

The  length  of  the  piles  varies  from  30  to  40  feet,  and 
the  total  dead  and  live  load  estimated  for  each  is  ten  tons. 
The  piles  arc  held  by  friction,  there  being  nothing  in  the 
nature  of  hardpan  to  support  them.  The  upward  pres- 
sure of  the  water  on  the  floor  is  6,000  tons,  and  while  the 
concrete  was  being  laid  clay  and  water  were  forced 
through  12  inches  of  concrete.  The  floors  and  walls 
were  water-proofed  by  ten  layers  of  tarred  paper  and 
coal  tar  pitch. 

The  ])r()gress  of  work  was  slow,  but  it  was  completed 
without  accident;  and  early  in  T904  a  concrete  boat  50 
by  202  feet  was  constructed,  and  its  floor  is  as  dry  as  if 
it  were  above  tide-water.  The  upward  pressure  of  the 
water  is  met  in  part  by  the  weight  of  the  walls,  this  being 
distriljutcd  by  curved  steel  beams  extending  throughout 
the  floor  from  wall  to  wall.  This  plan  reduced  the  thick- 
ness of  the  concrete  and  obviated  the  necessity  of  deeper 
excavation. 

The  basement  is  divided  into  three  parts.  The  en- 
gine room  is  in  the  third,  fronting  on  Westminster  street; 
the  boiler  room  is  in  the  centre,  and  the  presses  will  be 
placed  on  the  Fulton  street  side.  The  floor  of  the  engine 
and  press  room  is  18  feet  below  the  sidewalk,  and  the 
boiler  room  and  motor  pit  in  the  press  room  are  four  feet 
deeper.  The  concrete  floor  in  the  engine  and  the  press 
rooms  is  3^  feet  thick,  and  in  the  boiler  room  the  thickness 
is  from  4  to  7  feet.     This  is  necessitated  by  the  greater 


HOMES  OF    THE   JOURNAL.  227 

pressure  of  the  water,  which  even  in  the  motor  pit,  covering 
nearly  one-third  of  the  press  room  area,  is  1,200  pounds 
per  square  foot.  In  the  basement  are  4,000  cubic  yards 
of  concrete,  300,000  pounds  of  iron,  300  cubic  yards  of 
brick  work,  900  piles,  and  half  an  acre  of  water-proofing. 
The  development  of  the  homes  of  the  Journal  has  been 
characteristic  of  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  paper, 
which  successively  required  more  room  as  it  needed 
presses  of  greater  capacity.  In  early  times  the  newspaper 
was  generally  an  adjunct  to  a  printing  establishment. 
The  first  department  to  be  developed  was  the  editorial 
room,  and  this  was  especially  noticeable  in  the  Washing- 
ton building,  where  the  public  seemed  to  regard  the 
rooms  with  a  sense  of  ownership.  The  modern  news- 
paper has  space  for  departments  never  dreamed  of  in  the 
early  days. 


CHAPTER  XL 

JOURNALISM  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

The  Hartford  Courant,  Hartford  Times,  Boston  Journal, 
Boston  Transcript,  Springfield  Republican  and  Worces- 
ter Spy. 


JOURNALISM  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

In  the  length  of  time  it  has  been  pubHshed,  its  steady 
prosperity  during  seventy-five  years,  and  the  comparative 
consistency  of  its  poHcy  from  the  first,  the  record  of  the 
Providence  Journal  has  been  unique  in  the  history  of 
New  England  newspapers.  This  even  growth,  uninter- 
rupted by  financial  disaster  or  revolution  in  business 
methods,  has  been  due,  perhaps,  to  the  long  terms  of  its 
proprietors,  whose  periods  of  control  have  overlapped  one 
another  sufficiently  to  insure  the  continuation  of  a  well- 
defined  policy.  The  custom  that  prevailed  during  the 
first  part  of  the  century  of  a  canvass  by  a  printer,  who  de- 
sired to  start  a  newspaper  and  wished  to  learn  what  as- 
surance it  would  have  of  support,  did  not  precede  the 
birth  of  the  Journal,  which  owed  its  existence  to  the  rise 
of  a  tariff  sentiment  in  opposition  to  those  who  feared 
lest  protection  might  injure  the  commercial  supremacy 
of  such  a  port  as  Providence. 

It  was  the  cotton  spinners  and  other  textile  manufact- 
urers of  Providence — and,  indeed,  of  all  Rhode  Island — 
who  gave  the  initial  financial  support  to  the  Journal, 
which  at  the  outset  made  itself  a  conspicuous  advocate  of 
that  protective  system  for  American  industries  which  was 
then  taking  definite  shape  as  a  national  policy;  and  all 
through  the  middle  part  of  the  igtli  century  the  paper 
continued  that  advocacy  unremittingly.  In  later  years, 
too,  there  has  been  no  real  digression  of  the  Journal  from 


232  FTFTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE   JOURNAL, 

its  original  patriotic  j)ur])ose  in  this  respect,  though  with 
the  changing  of  industrial  conditions  it  has,  of  course, 
found  the  truest  protection  and  encouragement  of  do- 
mestic industry  in  free  raw  materials,  in  reciprocity, 
and  in  such  other  modifications  of  the  earlier  tariff 
systems  as  make  for  broader  markets;  at  the  same 
time  in  the  interests  of  home  consumers  it  has  urged 
the  reduction  of  all  duties  to  a  revenue  basis  as  fast  as 
domestic  producers  become  able  to  meet  natural  com- 
petition. 

The  open  rebellion  of  Isaiah  Thomas's  Massachusetts 
Spy  forced  the  removal  of  that  newspaper  in  1774  from  the 
Tory-tainted  atmosphere  of  Boston  to  the  more  loyal 
colony  in  Worcester.  .From  Worcester  Mr.  Thomas 
attempted  to  start  other  newspapers  in  New  England,  and 
he  left  a  record  of  patriotic  service  in  giving  expression 
to  the  fervor  that  carried  the  Revolution  through  to  its 
successful  close.  But  nearly  fifty  years  before  Isaiah 
Thomas,  James  Franklin,  the  brother  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  had  established  a  newspaper  in  Rhode  Island, 
which  was  the  fourth  launched  in  New  England.  Yet 
it  is  in  its  career  as  a  daily  that  the  Spy  must  be  compared 
with  the  journal,  which  began  its  daily  issues  in  1829. 
The  Worcester  Spy  did  not  ap]3ear  daily  until  July  24, 
1845,  and  its  pros])erity  hardly  continued  unbroken  for 
fifty  years,  although  its  jjublication  has  been  continuous. 

A  closer  resemblance  to  the  history  of  the  Journal  is 
seen  in  the  Hartford  Courant.  which  has  been  published 
as  a  daily  since  1837.  The  Courant  was  established  as 
a  weekly  in  1764,  and  has  been  issued  ever  since  from 
})ractically  the  same  home,  which  was  remodelled  and 


JOURNALISM  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  233 

rebuilt  in  1879.  Another  similarity  has  been  in  the  long 
service  of  its  editor,  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  from  which  he  has  until  recently  dictated 
its  policy.  Since  the  conspicuous  part  he  took  in  the  Civil 
War  General  Hawley  has  occupied  an  editorial  position 
similar  to  that  of  the  late  Senator  Anthony,  with  whom 
he  was  so  long  associated  in  Washington. 

Not  unlike  the  positions  of  Senator  Anthony  and  Sen- 
ator Hawley  was  that  of  Senator  W.  E.  Chandler  of  New 
Hampshire,  owner  of  the  Concord  Monitor,  which  he 
managed  when  a  member  of  the  upper  House  in  Congress, 
although  newspaper  ownership  by  public  men  in  New 
England  is  by  no  means  common  to-day,  so  exacting 
are  the  duties  of  the  publisher. 

There  are  features  in  the  growth  of  the  Hartford  Times 
and  its  long  ownership  by  Mr.  A.  E.  Burr  that  remind 
one  of  the  Providence  Journal,  especially  the  gatherings 
of  eminent  party  men  in  the  office  to  discuss  questions  of 
the  day.  The  Times  is  Democratic,  and  the  men  attracted 
to  its  office  gathered  there  afternoons  when  the  paper  had 
gone  to  press,  or  in  the  evening;  but  otherwise  one  might 
see  a  resemblance  to  the  group  of  men  composing  Senator 
Anthony's  "Sunday  School,"  who  were  at  first  principally 
Whigs  and  afterwards  Republicans.  The  positive  type  of 
Mr.  Burr's  views  was  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  when 
foreman  of  the  Courant  office  in  1839  he  refused  to  buy 
an  interest  in  that  paper  because  the  conditions  of  the 
purchase  included  the  promise  to  join  the  Whig  party 
and  the  Congregational  church.  Mr.  Burr's  editorial 
connection  with  the  Times  was  longer  than  that  of  Sen- 
ator Anthony  with  the  Journal,  for  he  had  been  over 


234  FIFTY   YEARS    WITH    THE   JOURNAL. 

sixty  years  in  the  harness  when  he  died  in  1900.  The 
Times  was  first  issued  as  a  morning  daily  in  1841,  shortly 
after  Mr.  Burr  became  the  owner,  but  he  soon  realized 
that  there  was  a  better  field  for  an  evening  edition  in 
Hartford,  especially  as  he  expected  to  find  his  strongest 
constituency  among  the  working  people  who  can  read 
more  in  the  evening  after  the  day's  work  is  through.  In 
its  mechanical  development  the  Hartford  Times  has  shown 
the  same  enterprise  and  disposition  to  keep  abreast  of 
the  latest  improvements  as  the  Journal  has,  and  its  new 
building,  erected  in  1898,  is  a  model  of  convenience. 

In  point  of  long  service  in  connection  with  a  newspaper, 
William  Durant  of  the  Boston  Transcript,  who  died 
December  31,  1903,  after  seventy  years  in  the  oflice,  at- 
tained a  distinction  which  was  perhaps  without  precedent. 
He  entered  the  employ  of  the  Transcript  when  a  lad  of 
eighteen,  and  became  a  director  and  treasurer  of  the  com- 
pany. At  his  funeral  there  were  present  sixteen  mem- 
bers of  the  staff,  who  had  each  served  over  thirty  years  on 
the  paper. 

The  Springfield  Republican  holds  a  unique  position 
in  New  England  journalism  because  it  has  been  owned 
continuously  by  a  member  of  the  Bowles  family  since  it 
was  founded  by  Samuel  Bowles,  grandfather  of  the 
present  publisher.  The  daily  edition  was  started  with 
an  evening  issue  in  1844,  largely  through  the  influence 
of  the  second  Samuel  Bowles,  then  a  young  man.  Under 
this  son's  management  it  rose  to  prominence  among 
American  newspapers. 

For  a  long  time  the  Boston  Journal  was  conducted  along 
lines  similar  to  those  that  determined  the  policy  of  the 


JOURNALISM   IN    NEW   ENGLAND.  235 

Providence  Journal,  and  when  news  had  to  be  gained  by 
clipping  from  exchanges  each  found  the  cohimns  of  the 
other  particularly  valuable.  It  was  launched  as  the  Mer- 
cantile Journal  in  1833,  ^o^^  years  after  the  Manufact- 
urers' and  Farmers'  Journal  began  to  issue  a  daily  in 
Providence,  and  until  recent  years  it  consistently  advo- 
cated party  principles  so  warmly  as  to  be  considered  an 
organ  by  Republicans.  The  relations  of  the  Boston 
Journal  to  its  Providence  neighbor  were  particularly 
close  during  the  administration  of  Col.  William  W.  Clapp, 
who  soon  after  Mr.  Danielson's  death  succeeded  to  the 
presidency  of  the  New  England  Press  Association. 


GENERAL  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA— BERKELEY 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or  on  the 

date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


FEB  7  -  1955 


LD  21-100m-l/54(1887sl6)476 


i  ^      ^O  /  I    / 


859211 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


